Now there's an open ended question...I'll give it an unorganized shot.
Jeff Greene-
<<Could you give us a view from your position to the future of enterprise and the ubiquitous nature of the networked world.>>
I've been at a couple "technologicaly advanced" companies and Java is the standard they are developing around. This is from an I.T. perspective, the stuff that makes corporations run. There is incredible support for one Java standard, the IT depts. don't want to deal with a fractured market, and we, the developers, love the language. (With this type of support, I really don't think MSFT will be able to cram a bastardized version down our throats...)
Java allows for quick development. The learning curve is faster, and the language is flexible and robust. The spec is open, so it is easy to adapt to your needs, and build corporate libraries around. Sun seems very open to suggestions for future releases and is comitted to make this thing work.
Now, this is important stuff. We are entering (or already in) the age of information dissemination, not number crunching. Corporate integration is key. Get rid of the data entry clerks and build bridges between all your corporate systems. Speed up operations, reduce costs, etc. The ideal corporate infrastructure will have an end-to-end integrated solution that requires minimal human interaction. This is where Java really shines!
Let me step aside and answer the "..but Java is slow" arg that we hear all to often. If you ever waited for a Java applet to load over a 28.8 modem, then yes, that is slow. But when bytecode is loaded into the Java VM and executed once, cached into memory, is cruises right along. With newly released tech, nearly as fast as C++.
Since we are dealing with enterprise systems, we never turn off the apps, and of course, we rarely reboot because us smart folk are running Solaris on Sun equipment. Speed is not even a huge issue for most enterprise system integrations. What does it matter that it takes a few seconds to update (after each triggering event, for us geeks) another database say, from ordering to billing.
Excuse my language but, BFD.
Integrating to another Java app or interface is easy, just use RMI. If it is written in something else, CORBA, or another 3rd party integration tool (ours uses Java for custom logic...)
As for netcentric computing... I am a computer "professional" and I hardly even need computing power on the desktop, how much do the rest of you need?. I would much rather have everything I need stored and maintained centrally and be able to log in from any system. I don't have the time or the patience to deal with a PC, software installations, reboots, backups. All I need is an window to the network and a big, fat, pipe. Of course, Bandwidth will be key to this revolution and you'll still experience slight network latency, maybe a few seconds (a full min. for big apps) for apps to load up. But since you wouldn't have to reboot all the damn time, and not spend time and hastle with the above problems, is this a good trade off? Damn straight. And the company can now run with a fraction of the SA's it used to need to maintain all those irritating PC's.
It will take a while longer for this to hit the household, for obvious reasons.
I guess I don't think PC's will die, they will just change their role from storage and processing power, to a "view" of the network.
Now you see why I laugh at the "PC's" are cheaper arg. It's nearly irrelevant. The nature of PC's and workstations will change dramatically, neither will be a force in computing.
I can't really claim this is my opinion, it's all stuff I have heard and read from other, much smarter geeks than I.
Hope you didn't suffer too much reading this diatribe, bordering on manifesto. That'll probably learn ya from asking me anymore questions, he he.
Happy Investing,
JavaGuy
BTW, SUNW is my largest holding, has been for years. |
