Thinking about Java

As the second annual JavaOne conference continues, it becomes obvious thatJava is here to stay, despite a lukewarm reception in the corporate arenathus far. SunSoft--and many other vendors, for that matter--are intent onkeeping Java out of the hands of Microsoft (who were not invited to theconference, by the way). Microsoft, for their part, claims to be verysupportive of Java and wishes to extend the functionality of the languageon the Windows 32-bit platforms. The company has also created an ActiveX-Java bridge, raising the hackles of the Java faithful. This is, however, asuccessful strategy and one that Microsoft has honed to perfection: it'scalled "embrace and extend."

Sun's more open approach is laudable, but creates a "least common denominator" syndrome where the least-mature platform that supports Javadetermines the base feature set (particularly, user interface elements).Windows developers, who are used to advanced IDEs and a huge assortmentof tools and components, are often amazed to discover the immaturity ofJava and the tools used to create Java apps.

Sun has responded, however, with an interesting peek at the future of Java.The company plans to overhaul the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) so that itdynamically compiles byte code into machine code at a speed that allowsJava applets and applications to rival native C/C++ programs. A new versionof the Win32 JDK 1.1 DLL will speed the Windows implementation of Java.Additionally, Sun is breaking Java into four categories, each supportingdifferent form factors, so that features can be added where they make sense, not tacked on to a single implementation, creating bloat.

And there are some success stories: major vendors such as IBM, Lotus, and Corel are working on Java applications. Unfortunately, it's easy toforget that Corel first announced and demoed their Corel Office for Javaa year ago at the first JavaOne conference: the product has still yetto see the light of day despite well over a year of work. Corel's Java hardware, essentially a vaporware announcement made last fall, has never been publicly demonstrated either.

For Java to make the leap to the next level, some credible developers aregoing to have to prove that Java applications--not applets--are a seriousalternative to native applications written in C/C++ or Visual Basic. Fornow, Java is relegated to the creation of the annoying spinning graphics and scrolling marquees that litter the Web like roadkill. JavaSoft (andeven Microsoft, for that matter) are doing everything they can to takethe technology--suddenly so much more than "just" a programming language--to that level. The next few months will determine whether the usefulness ofJava outlives the hype