JavaOS bites the dust

International Business Machines (IBM) has officially ceased working with Sun Microsystems on the JavaOS for Business, a Java-based operating system that both Sun and IBM were planning to use on so-called thin-client devices. Instead, IBM will focus on developing its Java Virtual Machine (JVM) for Windows Terminal Server, Linux, and its own OS/400 OS.

"When we first developed JavaOS for Business, performance was the number one question when it came to Java: the JVMs [at the time] were not up to par. But since then we have seen a vast increase in performance on JVMs,"

Another reason for the cancellation: Customer disinterest. IBM says that its customers are far more interested in getting IBM's superfast JVM plugged into their Windows-based Web browsers