If you’ve grown tired of watching Sun Microsystems and Microsoft thrash it out over Java, get ready for some fresh blood. IBM and several other companies have indicated support for a third Java: a Java-applicaton-server standard.
Programmers working in the trenches are concerned that Sun has delayed deployments of key components: The Hot Spot optimizing compiler will be a year late and this summer’s promised releases of a new Java Development Kit and Java Runtime Environment are still in preview versions.
It’s not just Microsoft and Sun that can’t agree on Java specifications. Programmers working with Netscape’s application server and the NetDynamics application server have noticed that their Java implementations are different. Even Netscape and Sun, great friends when it comes to Java development, aren’t on the same playing field.
Developers do not want to wait for Sun or Microsoft or some judge to iron out their Java issues. IBM officials are careful to express an agnostic view of Sun, and Inter@ctive Week reports that the company is building proprietary optimizing compilers intended for System/390 and AS/400 platforms.
The Java-application-server standard, supported by IBM, was proposed by WebLogic (www.weblogic.com). The privately held San Francisco company is in the midst of being purchased (www.beasys.com/weblogic/) by BEA Systems Inc., a middleware vendor. WebLogic is best known for its Tengah system which assembles, deploys and manages distributed Java applications.
The proposal, first made by WebLogic Vice President Scott Dietzen, delineates which application programming interfaces and network directory interfaces a Java application server must have. The emphasis of the standard is on cross-platform portability and access to all Java features. It’s not clear whether Sun or Microsoft will sign on to this standards attempt, even though both companies are listed as WebLogic strategic allies (www.weblogic.com/partners/alliances.html). The question will turn on whether Sun and Microsoft think a common standard is good business.
