Java, Java, Java

- by Brad Wardell

Java, Java, Java. That's all I hear about. Every weekly trade magazine I pick up has news on some great Java announcement. As users of these wondrous technologies, how great is Java? Is it really useful? Is the future going to be Java?

The answer from my standpoint is a mixed "Yes." I think Java is here to stay, but do I think we'll all be running Java based office suites in a couple years? No. I've been playing with Java off and on for several months now and my opinion of it largely depends on the day and the program and the VM (virtual machine).

The press can easily make Java look great because they only have to show screen shots. Look at the screen shots here, they sure look cool don't they? But the performance of Java can be abysmal. Even on OS/2's latest released VM, Corel Office for Java was too slow to be usable -- even on a Pentium.

The question we ask really should be, "Where is Java useful?" Currently, we have multiple proponents of Java who see it useful in different ways and their combined song makes it sound like Java is the universal answer. Those who don't use Windows 95 or NT see it as a way of getting major application support. Administrators see it as the next big thing for zero administration clients, either through PCs, NPCs, or NCs. Still others see it as a way of making intranet and Internet web access very useful.

I happen to be more a part of the latter camp. Java on a web site can add some real functionality. In a few years when TV and PCs start to merge to create some sort of media appliance (PCs will live on but there will likely be a separate Media Appliance market) Java could become a significant force in creating interactive applications that are hosted from your local cable company.

But as stand alone applications that replace things like MS Word or Word Pro or PhotoShop, I don't think that's going to happen. Cross-platform products have been done in the past and they are always at a disadvantage to native apps because the native app is free to take advantage of any unique features available on the platform. If the OS market was splintered like it was long ago, a cross-platform Java application strategy would be great. But if 95% of the PC market is using Win32 programs, what's the point in Java applications? How many companies are willing to sacrifice anything to make the OS/2, Unix, Mac, and BeBox people happy?

That's not to say that there are no cases where a Java application makes sense -- there are. I simply don't see Java's strength in being able to deliver conventional applications.

From an IS department standpoint, Java can make sense as the ultimate intranet application server. This is where I think a lot of money will come from. Companies will want to be able to control exactly what their users see and use on their machines. A big bank, for example, may want to keep track of customers and can have a Java application that runs on a high-end server with users running PCs or NCs. If a change is made to the application, it's just the server program that needs to be changed. The IS manager just needs some PC programs that keep their users from being able to "Escape" the Java browser. Both Microsoft and IBM are working on ways to deeply integrate their respective OS's into the intranet world. Anyone who thinks IBM isn't behind OS/2 only needs to look at what IBM is doing -- making OS/2 able to run these apps on OS/2's already strong underpinnings.

Java has a strong future, but be careful not to be lead astray by the hype. Java has some real strengths but not necessarily in the areas you may think.

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