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To: Jens M who wrote (5529)	6/18/1999 12:41:00 PM
From: lkj	Respond to of 10309

There is an interesting article called "Java's Dual Personality" from the business section of the June 14th San Jose Mercury News. I couldn't download it, but I will quote parts of it here, text in () are mine. "Sun Microsystems Inc.'s Java technology has undergone a remarkable transformation in a mere four years--from promising and sexy to useful and boring" ....... (In reference to Java) "a successful tool for something as unglamorous as business programming and one of many software contenders in the race for supremacy in the emerging market for Internet devices." ........ "If there is one place where Java has flopped, it is precisely as an alternative to Windows on personal computers." ........ "And Java's own technical problems -- slow performance and slight incompatibilities among different versions--precluded any residual hope that it would become the language of choice for PCs. Today, even Java's strongest backers agree that SUN promised too much. Yet Java has made huge inroads in the deepest reaches of corporate computing as an enabling technology for electronic commerce. Java's most useful role has been as a sort of software glue that lets companies link their multiple existing computer systems with each other and to the Internet--a capability that has become crucial in the face of the ongoing boom in electronic commerce." ........ "Perhaps JavaOne's most intriguing demonstrations will involve non-PC devices, where the next big battle between Microsoft and SUN will be played out. SUN has promoted Java as the ideal software to power a slew of Internet appliances, ranging from television set-top boxes to personal digital assistants to washing machines. It has buttressed those efforts with Jini, a sleek Java based technology that would let devices hook onto network easily and tap each other's power" (I wonder why a washing machine needs such power?) ........ " Analysts say the number of Internet devices is likely to explode in the next few years. But because the market is so diverse, no single company or technology is likely to dominate it. " (This will certainly be true if Java lives up to its potential.) ........ " 'The things that are succeeding are neither ours nor Microsoft's.' said Jon Kannegaard, vice president of platforms and products for Sun's Java Software. Kannegaard said other technologies, like 3Com Corp.'s Palm and Britain's Psion Plc, a maker of operating systems for handheld computers, are taking the lead."