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Developers mixed on Java ruling
By Stephen Shankland
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
November 18, 1998, 3:05 p.m. PT
update | news analysis Software developers ran long on
opinion but short on agreement in the wake of a
preliminary injunction against Microsoft in its licensing
dispute with Sun Microsystems, curtailing the software
giant's ability add its own extensions to the Java computer
language.
While some were jubilant, others feared that the ruling will cripple
their businesses.
"It's a great decision," said software developer Raul Acevedo of
Cantara Consulting in Cambridge, Massachusetts. "Java is an
emerging standard. You want to keep it pure so people can
actually use it. If it starts to splinter and fracture, it goes to hell."
Dennis Simpson, a programmer with August Associates, agreed.
Microsoft's Windows-specific extensions to the Java language
"would lock more and more people into Windows," he said,
noting that Java was meant to work identically on any system.
Ideally, "you write an application once and know it's going to run"
on any computer, Simpson added.
But Bill Rapoza, a software
engineer at Biotronik, called the
ruling a setback. "We produce
Windows software, and have
absolutely no need for the
'portability' of Sun's 'pure Java,'" he
said.
"This ruling can have very serious
financial consequences for our
company if we are forced to
redesign and rewrite our software,"
added Zor Gorolev, president of
IntraActive Software
As reported, a federal judge gave Microsoft 90 days to stop
selling software--including Windows 98 and Internet Explorer
4.0--that includes its version of the Java technology and
Windows-only extensions to the Java language.
The injunction forbids Microsoft from adding further extensions to
Java. In addition, if the eventual outcome of the trial is the same
as yesterday's ruling, the court may forbid Microsoft from adding
any extensions at all to Sun's version of Java.
Also in the 90-day time frame, Microsoft's Java development
products must be able to produce Java code that passes Sun's
Java compliance tests. The ruling further requires that
development software be set to produce Sun-compatible Java
code by default. That ruling allows for Microsoft's current
extensions to Java, though Microsoft products must alert users
when they use the Microsoft extensions.
The injunction wasn't a total victory for Sun, which had requested
that Microsoft immediately stop shipping its Java development
software. The judge ruled that stopping these shipments
immediately "would cause significant harm to innocent third-party
software developers."
Acevedo said Microsoft's extensions to Java were a "classic
Microsoft" ploy to "embrace and extend, [and try] to make
something into its own," adding, "Microsoft is terrified of Java,
and is doing anything it can to splinter Java."
Extending Java to create several versions of the language would
mean chaos, Acevedo added. It would be similar to the problems
Web designers face in trying to write different versions of Web
pages for Netscape and Microsoft browsers.
But Gorolev said the ruling actually might lead to further fracturing
of the Java community, since it may force Microsoft to develop its
own version of Java.
But could the ruling end up hurting both Sun and Java by forcing
Microsoft to abandon Java altogether? Java developers were wary
of such an outcome, since Java quickly has become a favorite
language for developers, but Microsoft spokesman Jim Cullinan
didn't rule out that scenario when asked about the company's
Java plans. While Microsoft doesn't plan to drop support for Java
right now, he said, the ultimate support for Java is a
long-term business decision that has yet to be made.
Developers criticized Sun as well as Microsoft in how Java
has been handled.
For one thing, Java isn't a unified standard, even without
Microsoft's additions. Simpson noted that different Web
browsers implement different versions of the Java
language. It often takes a long time for large companies to
switch, for example, from Internet Explorer 3.0 to 4.0, he
said.
"Sun has a lot of work to do to clean up its own act,"
Acevedo added. "A lot of people are suspicious of Sun
controlling the Java standards process, but overall I think
this [ruling] is a great thing. As a developer, it's great that
Sun gets to win this one."
Microsoft, for its part, defended its extensions as a
valuable addition to Java. "We believe it is still important
that Microsoft should be providing choice to developers,"
said Paul Maritz, the software giant's group vice president.
"At this point in time we remain committed to doing that,
providing a high-quality Java environment that includes
those [features] that exploit Windows environments."
Cambridge, Massachusetts, programmer Aubrey Francois
agreed with Microsoft's argument. "Sun's implementation
of Java is fine if you're going to be making applets for
computers all over the Internet. But I develop multimedia
applications, and I'm tired of waiting for Sun to ship a
usable product," he said. "Microsoft opened up the world
of Windows to Java programmers. As a developer, I think
that Sun's win is rather unfortunate.
"Anyone should appreciate the ease of developing with
Java over [programming language] C++, and Microsoft's
extensions allowed Java to go into areas previously
reserved for C++," he added..
Francois wasn't alone in his support for Microsoft's
enhancements to Java. "In the end, I have to support
Microsoft because the Java language alone, even with all
the new Java 1.2 packages, does not provide all the power
and functionality I need to develop the kind of solutions our
customers demand," said Jamie Thomas, who develops
Internet applications at Renaissance Interactive.
"Microsoft has provided me the fastest means to tap into
both their powerful operating system and the wealth of
component technologies written in non-Java languages
without having to wait for Sun to provide similar, yet
always crippled, implementations."
As a result of the decision, Sun said, "Developers will now
be able to write native code so that it can access Java
code across all implementations," according to Alan
Baratz, president of Java Software.
Baratz reiterated that the ruling means Microsoft's Java
developer tools must warn users that, by using Microsoft's
Windows-specific keywords and compiler directives, the
tools won't work anywhere except in Microsoft's version of
the Java Virtual Machine.
News.com's Stephanie Miles and Tim Clark contributed to
this report.
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