Microsoft Says Windows Is Java-Friendly

June 25th, 2007

Microsoft Corp. may not have the clearest vision for how to
integrate Java into its
overall strategy, but the company is certain of one thing: It wants to
make Windows the best platform to run Java applications.

Microsoft’s goal is to make sure that the best way to run Java is
Windows, said Charles Fitzgerald, program manager of Microsoft’s
Internet Platform and Tools Division. Java is very immature today and
Microsoft plans to bring its knowledge of development environments and
operating systems to make it a better language.

Microsoft has a two-pronged Java strategy — its J++ development
environment and support for Java applets via its Java Virtual Machine
embedded in Internet Explorer, Fitzgerald said. J++ goes up against
similar products from Symantec Corp. and Borland International Inc., as
well as Java WorkShop from Java’s creator, Sun Microsystems Inc.

We don’t see Java WorkShop as a competitive product. After all, no one’s
buying it, Fitzgerald said. Microsoft is confident it can draw the same
amount of market share it has for its C++ product (about 50 percent) with
its J++ product, Fitzgerald said.

But while Microsoft claims to be whole-heartedly supporting Java, even in
conjunction with its own ActiveX technology, it is skeptical that
Java-based applications will be strong enough to displace traditional
applications written in other programming languages in the near future.

There are [about] 3,000 Java applets available today, and most of those
are flying coffee cups or spinning hippos, Fitzgerald said. In contrast,
there are thousands of applications written for Windows in C++ and Visual
Basic, comprising hundreds of billions of lines of code, Fitzgerald
said.

While Microsoft thinks Java applets run fastest on Windows and Internet
Explorer because of its highly-optimized Java Virtual Machine,
competitor Sun Microsystems Inc. is betting on its own JavaOS, Fitzgerald
said. However, JavaOS runs only applications written in Java, while
Windows runs the thousands of applications already available for Windows
as well, Fitzgerald said.

Microsoft is language-neutral, Fitzgerald said.

Like many debates between Microsoft and the rest of the industry, the way
the company will use Java to its fullest advantage comes down to the PC
versus the NC.

It is a pretty big bet to optimize a machine at the silicon level to run
applications written in only one programming language, Fitzgerald said
of NCs based on the JavaOS. Once NC developers write hundreds of
millions of lines of code in Java, then we can begin to consider the NC
on the same level as the PC.

Earlier today, Microsoft announced that it will make its Java Virtual
Machine, which enables a browser to run Java applets, available for
Netscape Navigator.

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