day 66

tiny beans conquer world 3: anti-heroes

Yesterday we saw how Java has spread throughout the "Wired World" with the same frenzy as chocolate spread throughout the "old world" centuries ago. The anti-Microsoft forces are so intent on going around Microsoft's flank that they will grab anything that sounds like it might displace Microsoft from its lock-in monopoly of the desktop. These anti-heroes are hoping that Java's neutrality will be just what is needed to render Wintel inconsequential. Even Microsoft feels this heat. In a classical move to deflect the Java onslaught for a few months while it gets its Internet strategy in place, Microsoft licensed Java and elevated it to the same level as its Visual BASIC. Still running scared, Microsoft began licensing BASIC to third party developers, hoping to stall Java for a few more months. Next, Microsoft will be throwing corporate ballast over the edge of Lake Washington, to make itself lighter and faster as it puffs to catch the Java wave. While Microsoft is trying to absorb Java into ActiveX, Sun and the anti-Microsoft forces are trying to absorb ActiveX into their Java-based products. A recent want-ad from Sun reads, "JavaBeans Software Engineer: Create a set of component APIs that will be revolutionary in their functionality and openness. Significant experience with OLE/COM, OCX, and [Microsoft OLE] automation development required." Heh, heh. Regardless of the inadequacies of Java, and the hurried patches that Sun keeps throwing at us, Java is not just another language as some writers have tried to convince us nerds. But, so what? Languages are dead anyhow. The battlefront has shifted to middleware standards. Middleware is the next Wired World platform. Why? Maybe middleware isn't a revenue fire engine running to a software company's rescue, but it is the tail that wags the dog (see Figure 1, tomorrow). According to Input Research, the US market for software that supports ActiveX, CORBA, OpenDoc, and eventually, Java Beans is $14 billion this year, and will loom to $25 billion next year. The name of the computer biz game is "distributed processing," and middleware is the software equivalent of the routers, switches, and hubs that go into the Internet. If you want to be a Big Wheel in Wired World, you have to dominate middleware standards. Microsoft cannot afford to be riding training wheels when it comes to pushing ActiveX ahead of Java Beans. So, Microsoft did a clever thing -- it renamed OLE to ActiveX, turned up the PR machinery, and absorbed Java.

tiny beans conquer world 1 2 Daily Dose Index