Java: The best is yet to come

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Imitation is a form of flattery

While Microsoft rules the desktop, for the time being, it does not control the server room. They have a good foothold right now on the low end market, but Linux is now becoming a real nuisance in that arena, an will most likely be really really tough rival. Linux and Java go together just fine. Unfortunately NET won't be run on Linux. Forget about Mono because it provides no compatibility with Microsoft's NET at the end. Microsoft will never give up the control of the Windows platform to Linux via NET, because that is the very foundation of everything Microsoft does.

Mobile devices are really a difficult problem for Microsoft. They do not control the platform (like they 'own' PC makers). There is .NET stuff maybe in 1%-2% of all mobile devices out there. Java is quickly becoming a standard for all of these devices, even the ones that run Windows, and Microsoft can't do anything to stop it. There are so many mobile platforms out there that it is dizzying. What fits that scene better than Java - nothing.

Clearly Java has something that Microsoft wants badly. It first tried to water down Java by adding its own proprietary Windows extensions to it. When that was shot down, it joined the Java camp by building NET. If you can't beat em, join em. Of course MS can not make things run on other platforms than Windows, or make all features available for anything but Microsoft products. That is their limitation. The server rooms will be still be difficult for Microsoft for this very same reason. Big enterprise deployments will never be one-vendor deals, and Java runs with any vendor's stuff; databases, messaging systems, etc., and provides all features that Microsoft dares to offer only with its own products.

Surely Microsoft is hard to be beat but there are challengers like Java and Linux that are hard to stiffle, buy, or assimilate and terminate. Everything has its end, and there will be a time when Microsoft will make a serious miscalculation or its importance will just plainly erode. Their achille's heal is their Windows platform centric thinking and it will eventually become irrelevant when the IT world gets hit by another life changing meteorite. The mobile devices might just be that, and Microsoft is really struggling there.

Posted by: tero_t_vaananen@...   Posted on: 11/15/03 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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