day 68

tiny beans conquer world 5: there you go again, microsoft

Yesterday we learned that OpenDoc is a better ActiveX than ActiveX. So why not use it instead of ActiveX? There I go again, being rational. Middleware warfare is not rational. The only thing that matters is lock-in, FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt, i. e., the three main reasons that data processing managers buy from Microsoft), and software economics. OpenDoc will live in IBM's dreams, but fade as ActiveX or Java Beans nuke each other for your IS budget. Is Java Beans the next big thing, or the next Ada? It all depends on who has the biggest marketing budget. Beans has a slight chance against ActiveX because it is cross-platform -- architecturally neutral as they say. ActiveX compiles into Wintel binaries, while Java compiles into J-code that will run on kerosene if it has to. While one is fast, the other is portable. Beans makes middleware work across all desktops, not just Wintel's. This is why the anti-Microsoft forces like it. But Microsoft is about to play its second hand. Microsoft, there you go again, as Sun's Scott McNealy would say if he were ex-President Ronald Reagan. Microsoft is about to flood the Internet with compelling applications that require users to adopt ActiveX. It will also force developers to make their software interoperate with ActiveX. ActiveX compatibility will be a necessity just like Windows NT compatibility, so why not simply do everything in ActiveX? NetMeeting Microsoft's next big revenue stream will come from corporate Intranet software like NetMeeting. Working in harmony with Microsoft's Explorer 3.0 browser, NetMeeting hits all of a corporation's hot buttons. It does voice and data conferencing and application sharing over the Internet. It uses T-120 and RTP (Real-Time Protocol) for streams. It lets tightwads place international telephone calls for free over the Internet. NetMeeting has whiteboard capability, chat, file transfer, and shared clipboards. It makes sharing of any Microsoft application across the Internet just like being there. And, guess what? NetMeeting is built on ActiveX. If you want NetMeeting, you have to get ActiveX. A Mad Dream "It sounds like a mad dream, yet these people represent it as we have come to know it. Their lives conjure up all the childlike magic of that sweet stuff." (from "The True History of Chocolate"). Of course, I am talking about chocolate. Chocolate Hazelnut Torte by Michelle Rach of The Lodge at Pebble Beach, California

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