Re: no Java in XP Windows -- MIDRANGE-L

Wow, Steve, you've said a mouthful.

Yes, "software by committee" has severe drawbacks.

In the early days of Java, Microsoft tried to push Sun to turn it over to a
standards body by proclaiming it as "proprietary".

But I think the hold up for Linux is applications. A user who might be
willing to move to Linux would have to ditch all his existing applications.
I don't think a desktop operating system has a chance to compete unless it
can duplicate the 32bit Windows APIs so that applications can run under it.

When IBM did this with OS/2 and Windows 3.x, it worked for those people who
were willing to buy OS/2 in addition to buying Windows, but it wasn't
possible for them to bundle. I feel that Linux, or any OS, could penetrate
the market if they could simply bundle with hardware offering a few bucks
savings.

Years ago I could see that just getting a level (legal) playing field would
open the market. For several years OS/2 delivered on what Microsoft was
promising would some day be delivered on Windows.

But I suppose the most direct answer to the question you are stating is that
there is no single or dual component answer to the situation we see now.
Java is just a piece, so is HTML, XML, open source, etc.

There are a lot of technologies that make up our marketplace. The problem is
that Microsoft develops its own answers to whatever technology exists, and
rolls those out as parts of existing OSs or products. So many vendors are
forced to go along as a matter of survival. Otherwise, Activex would have
been DOA.

Linux might be very popular, but it comes in many flavors. The different
distributions have different levels of support. Perhaps IBM feels that they
can create their own distribution at some point if it appears it will be
profitable and useful to do so. You are right that Linux, as an Open Source
alternative, could not hope to overtake the Windows market. But a strongly
supported distribution of it would have a great opportunity. It could
provide a consistent upgrade path for existing Linux users of all
distributions, and someday it could potentially offer the ability to run
Windows compatible applications. But it would take a lot of money to do
this. All the money IBM spent doing this with OS/2 was money in the trash
because they couldn't ship the product.

But IBM had a problem, they were not allowed to disassemble APIs and just
write an interface to their OS based on those. The APIs were Microsoft's.
That's what the whole Win32 war was about right before the release of Win95
that caused the Win32 spec to change so many times before release. It kept
IBM from being able to get a good 32 spec. Maybe if the courts are a little
pissed with MS over all the antitrust, they will require the APIs be opened
to other OS developers.

No single technology could possibly change this situation because MS can
simply control the adoption of that technology. Java is a great tool for the
things that it is for, but that is only a piece of the puzzle.

----- Original Message -----
From: "srichter " <srichter@mail.autocoder.com>
To: <MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com>
Sent: Thursday, July 19, 2001 4:41 PM
Subject: Re: no Java in XP Windows


> John, Chris, et al
>
> The focus of your back and forth implies ( to me ) that java and linux
open source are not proving to be the vehicle for breaking the ms
stranglehold.
>
> If so, do you have any explanation why?
>
> My explanation:  software by commitee is bound to fail.
>
> thank you,
>
> Steve Richter

Chris Rehm
javadisciple@earthlink.net
If you believe that the best technology wins the
marketplace, you haven't been paying attention.


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