THE FUTURE OF JAVA by Marc Andreessen, cofounder and senior vice president of technology for Netscape Communications. Network-based applications, such as those for group collaboration, sales automation, benefit administration, and technical support, are fundamentally shifting the way people use computers. These applications have different requirements from traditional desktop applications: They require universal connectivity and platform-independence, so users can leverage anything on the network. Network applications use live, real-time information, so they need to use code that's updated instantly, not annually. Finally, they require a security model sophisticated enough to keep out undesirable applications, but let in useful applications seamlessly. Java meets all these requirements. Platform-independent, with built-in security features, it's the programming language of the network. Developers can build an application with HTML, Java, and JavaScript, then put it on a server and make it instantly available to everyone. They can manage applications centrally - if they want to change something they can do it once, and the updated programs will be quickly available throughout the network. Today the most common Java programs are characterized by dynamic user interfaces, such as scrolling lines of text or stock tickers. Most current Java applications run only on the client, and their functionality and connectivity to other environments is limited. Expect this scenario to change rapidly, driven by the following improvements: Better performance. Currently Java programs run slowly compared to platform-specific compiled code, like that in C or C++. Through advances such as just-in-time compilers and other optimizations to the Java runtime and Java APIs, performance is improving rapidly. Expect further speed improvements within the next year, allowing Java performance to become competitive with C++ or C, thus eliminating the performance barriers that dampened enthusiasm for using Java to develop full-scale, complex applications. Better tools. It's amazing how fast the Java tools market is growing. First-generation products from top-tier vendors such as Borland, Metrowerks, and Symantec are shipping today. Java tools will soon support a variety of skill levels, from the most sophisticated Java programmer to less experienced users. Anyone who's interested will be able to quickly put together a custom application using intuitive "drag-and-drop" Java components. Maturing Java environment. This is exciting, because there are so many different improvements to the overall Java platform, each of which is substantial. I'll touch on just a few. Internet Foundation Classes. Recently, we introduced Netscape Internet Foundation Classes (IFC), which offer developers prebuilt objects that will form the core of many Java applications. They're written entirely in Java, so they're cross-platform and available in source code form at no charge. We're providing a lot of the underlying machinery to let developers focus on the value-added functionality on top. Server-side Java. Look for widespread Java support on servers in the next six months; it's already shipping on our Enterprise Server. Developers can then distribute network-centric applications across clients and servers, leveraging a single, integrated development environment for all their programming: the same tools, languages, portability, and compilers. Better connectivity. Last week we announced we would be adding Internet Inter-ORB Protocol (IIOP) support to our products, allowing Java developers to use an open protocol to communicate transparently between Java applications running on the client and the server. In addition, IIOP is part of Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA), an open standard for distributed object communication that allows Java applications to communicate directly with existing enterprise applications. Also expect connectivity between Java applets, servers, and databases to improve markedly. More flexible security. Today, by placing tight restrictions on the actions any Java program can perform, Java protects against potentially harmful network applications. We're working with Sun to develop a method for signing Java applets that will provide a flexible, capability-based security model. This will allow users and administrators to grant specific capabilities to individual applications, such as writing or erasing data, and accessing other computers and non-Java programs. Network-based programs will have the capability of traditional desktop-based programs, but with appropriate security and management features. Building on these Java advances, network-based applications will become ubiquitous because Java applications live neither on your desktop nor on a single server, but become part of the network. Applications merge with content and can be provided as a service over the network. Dynamic user interfaces access every application on the network, all from a simple point and click. A salesperson, for example, might use a single account management application that does everything from simple order tracking to presenting custom demonstrations. Frequently used code sits on the client, with a voluminous store of additional application logic available on a server at headquarters and replicated out into the field for convenient access. Automatic content updates are received from a mobile, Java-based agent running on the customer's system and a third-party delivery company. The application is up-to-date, it's fast, it's lightweight, it's information-centric, and it spans multiple systems. To the user, it just works. Most of the building blocks for these types of applications are here today - it's just a matter of time until they're widely implemented. Of course, on the Net that won't take long. With 100 million Java-enabled computers predicted by the end of 1997, Java will sweep applications into the Internet tornado. ------------------------------ Marc Andreessen is cofounder and senior vice president of technology for Netscape Communications. Andreessen developed the idea for the NCSA Mosaic browser for the Internet while he was an undergraduate student at the University of Illinois and a staff member at the university's National Center for Supercomputing Applications in Champaign, Illinois. He created the friendly, easy-to-use navigational tool for the Internet with a team of students and staff at NCSA in early 1993. ----------------------------------
Java will become unstoppable? X-Priority: 3 (Normal) Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > NCs Predicted to Outnumber PCs > (04/09/97; 4:00 p.m. EST) > By Douglas Hayward , TechWire > > MILTON KEYNES, England -- Distributed computing > architectures based on PCs are doomed, according to a report > that predicts network computer devices will outnumber personal > computers by two-to-one in corporate offices within five years. > > "The Enterprise In Transition," a report due next week from > Bloor Research, a British technology analyst, will say that most > large users plan to re-centralize their IS architectures over the > next three years. The new architectures will replace distributed > PC-based client/server networks with large corporate servers > linked to Java-based NCs or NetPCs, which are Intel-based > network computing devices based on a stripped-down version > of Windows. > > "The distributed model of computing has proved to be a very > poor and expensive foundation for the corporate computer > network," said a late draft of the summary of the report, which is > published on April 16. "The technology constraints that have > inhibited the centralized model have largely disappeared or are > disappearing," it said. > > The report comes only days after Bill Gates revealed that > Microsoft is developing operating systems for a series of > "task-based, single-function" network computer devices to be > known as Windows Terminals. > > Other predictions in the technology report include the following: > > The advance of Java as a programming language will become > unstoppable. > > Microsoft's ActiveX object architecture will not take a > controlling role in the development of Java because ActiveX > does not support enough software and hardware devices. > Attempts by Microsoft to tie Java into Windows will backfire > and will probably hurt Microsoft. > > Sales of NetPCs will be hurt by its reliance on Microsoft's > ActiveX object architecture. > > PCs will continue to lose market share to network computers > because PCs are seen as having high costs of ownership. > > Microsoft's revenues from its Office suite and its Windows > software will decline. > > Shipments of Java-based network computers and of NetPCs > will grow from 1.7 million this year to 35.4 million in the Year > 2000 as a consequence of this shift, according to Bloor > Research's estimates. > > "The idea that the centralization of computing will 'disempower' > the user is a complete nonsense," the report said. "It will have > the opposite effect -- it will further empower the user, by > removing from him or her the onerous and unproductive task of > having to manage a computer.