Windows XP to Drop Java Support

[W. Wayne Liauh]

Can anyone articulate a better example of "Embrace, Extend, and Extinguish"?

Microsoft has just outdone itself.


Warren Togami wrote:

> Translation: Microsoft says, "Let's destroy Sun, and push for faster
> adoption of .NET so we can charge everyone money on the services built on
> .NET."
>
> However, this move may not be entirely bad.  The Microsoft JVM has been
> rather old and incompatible with all other JVM brands for quite a while.
> (And if you ever coded in Java AWT, you would know that it mangles your
> applet layout when compared to other JVM's.)  Perhaps now OEM's will ship
> new Windows computers with Sun's latest JVM instead.  Let's hope this
> backfires against Microsoft.  Also, installing the plugin should be as easy
> as Flash or Shockwave, something that most web surfers do anyway.
> http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2790355,00.html
>
> (quotes from the article)
>
> "A Microsoft spokesman said Java support was diminished for "business
> reasons" and noted that it follows last year's legal dispute with Java's
> creator, Sun Microsystems Inc. Under terms of a settlement with Sun,
> Microsoft was given the right to continue to use early versions of Sun's
> Java code in Microsoft products for seven years, but made no commitment to
> do so."
>
> "After Windows XP is launched in October, users will be directed to download
> a plug-in from Microsoft's Web site (www.microsoft.com) to make Java-based
> programs work. Without this step, "any Web page that contains Java
> applications will not run -- it will be a dead page," said Jan Vitek, a
> professor of computer science at Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind.
> "This favors Microsoft's new technologies, and will inconvenience
> consumers," he said."
>
> "For Web-based businesses, Vitek added, "if you want your Web page
> accessible to the largest number of people, you may want to drop Java" and
> switch to Microsoft's competing set of products, which is under development
> and is known as .Net."
> "Because Java is designed for use across different operating systems,
> Microsoft has long viewed it as a threat to its Windows monopoly, and the
> technology has played a central role in the U.S. antitrust case. Among its
> findings in the case three weeks ago, a unanimous federal appeals court in
> Washington D.C. ruled that Microsoft had engaged in a deceptive and
> predatory campaign to cripple Java technology."
>
> ---
> You are currently subscribed to luau as: liauhw001 at Hawaii.rr.com
> To unsubscribe send a blank email to $subst('Email.Unsub')