November 23, 1998
Java wars: the first strike
By Bob O'Donnell
Other than the release of previews for Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
to theaters, the big news from last week was not Comdex, but a court decision in San Jose
that could have some long-lasting implications for the entire computer industry. I'm
referring to the injunction
issued Nov. 17 against Microsoft in the Sun Java case.
According to the injunction, the court believes Microsoft violated its licensing
agreement with Sun Microsystems when it produced a version of Java that had
Windows-specific extensions. Consequently, Microsoft was ordered to change both its Java
virtual machine (JVM) -- which ships as part of Windows 98 and Internet Explorer 4.0 --
and its J++ development tools to be compliant with pure Java (of the 1.1 variety, that is)
within 90 days. The J++ tool can still incorporate the Microsoft-specific Windows
extensions, but the default has to generate pure Java. You will still be able to use the
Microsoft Windows extensions, but it must be readily apparent when you are using them
(i.e., the application will warn you that it won't work properly on platforms other than
Windows).
The way I see it, this decision is the first authentic blow to the corporate body that
Microsoft has received in quite some time. Certainly the Microsoft/Justice Department case
looms larger, but nothing substantial is expected to result from those legal maneuverings
anytime soon. But the Java case could lead to some rapid changes in the way Microsoft's
software works. Interestingly, despite some initial predictions that Microsoft might
quickly drop Java support altogether as a result of the decision, the company has
announced that it intends to comply with the order -- at least for the short term.
The consequences of these developments are extremely interesting for the burgeoning
Java software market. For one thing, when Microsoft does alter its JVM, Java's promise of
"write once, run everywhere" should actually be a legitimate benefit, as opposed
to a wishful dream. No one can argue with the value and importance of this utopian-like
development environment, so let's hope it leads to an even stronger momentum in the
cross-platform Java world.
Ironically, though, I've read numerous quotes from Java developers who are actually
upset about the decision. Part of the issue is that some companies, for whatever reason,
only intended to write their Java applications for Windows and now they may have to rework
their applications to get them to work properly under a pure Java Windows JVM. The
related, though bigger, issue is that for many applications, Microsoft's proprietary JVM
is actually faster than Sun's "pure Java" JVM, which means there could be a
performance hit in going to a pure Java Windows JVM. Sun is quick to point out that with
the imminent release of Java Development Kit 1.2 -- which purportedly offers much better
performance -- this problem will go away. But until the JVMs built into browsers support
Version 1.2, performance remains a concern.
Another problem is that Microsoft has not committed to supporting 1.2 -- nor does the
injunction require it to do so -- and without Microsoft support the acceptance in the
marketplace for building apps that require 1.2 could be slowed down dramatically. So, we
could end up with the slower 1.1 support for some time. Sun claims that it is planning to
offer a Windows JVM plug-in to Internet Explorer to get around this possible lack of
support, but it remains to be seen how that scenario would play out. The more likely
scenario is that the marketplace will demand a pure Java 1.2-compliant Windows JVM and
that Microsoft will meet those demands, but it's not clear how quickly that might occur.
Regardless of how the specific events unfold, I predict this case will be seen as the
first real strike against the Microsoft monopoly. It essentially breathes new life into
the original cross-platform promise of Java and, as a result, has the potential to start
reshaping the operating system landscape and -- eventually -- the entire software
industry.
©
Copyright 1998, by InfoWorld Publishing Corp., a
subsidiary of IDG Communications, Inc. Reprinted from InfoWorld,
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