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Technology Stocks : How high will Microsoft fly? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Charles Tutt who wrote (46550)	6/13/2000 2:42:00 PM
From: DiViT	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 74651

"Where were you in the Java Wars, Daddy?" Sun's Big Lie in the mid-'90s propoganda battle? Predicting that Java would usher in a new world of cross-platform applications to break the back of Windows. By David Coursey, ZDNet News June 12, 2000 2:33 PM PT Microsoft never lied to me about Java. But Sun did -- all the time. And when you revealed yourself to Sun as anything less than a true believer, the company took it personally. There are still people at Sun that hate my guts. And that, boys and girls, is what I remember, five years later, about the Java Wars. I'm thinking about this because the JavaOne show convened in San Francisco last week, and a hotel on Highway 101 near the airport welcomed attendees on its big outdoor sign. That's what it takes to get me thinking about Java these days -- a giant sign at a so-so hotel. Other than that, I think about Java only when some piece of a Web site doesn't work. (This despite making a very nice return on some Sun stock I added to my 401K a few years ago.) Days of wine and Java Like everyone else, I used to think about Java all the time. I even tried my best to believe. In 1995, during a heyday that lasted about two years, Java was as talked about as Y2K would be a few years later. In fact, Java -- in terms of fantasy vs. reality and naked profiteering -- probably was the warm-up act for Y2K: all smoke, lights and sirens, but no fire. Back to the lies -- or in Sun's case the Big Lie. Sun predicted, promised really, that Java would bring in a world of "write once, run anywhere" cross-platform applications that would break the back of Windows. The Sunnies said Java-based "network computers" would replace both terminals and PCs on desktops. Venture capitalists said the Java Fund and like-minded investors would bring on the next generation of superrich entrepreneurs. During that time, a news magazine, that should have known better, named Kim Polese one of the "25 most influential" Americans. (Right next to Colin Powell, who I can only imagine was really pissed.) Today, most people think about Kim's start-up, Marimba, about as often as they do the Macarena. But I still have a Marimba tuner -- I think it was called -- just in case the rush to "push" technology was slow to kick in. (Still, Kim is laughing all the way to he bank, a major profiteer from Sun's Big Lie). Microsoft, on the other hand, predicted Java would become a programming language of choice for sub-genius-level programmers. That it would become one of a number of tools a Web programmer would use. Network computers and cross-platform applications were jokes, the Redmondians said. And they were right -- and not because they jerked Sun around (although they did some of that) but because Sun didn't deliver and should have known, from the beginning, they never would. zdnet.com