Gerald de Jong wrote:
> correct me if i'm wrong, but i can't help but conclude that it's in Sun's best
> interest to have Java run extremely well on Solaris and on any other operating
> system that represents the _client_ side of the story (ie. unable to
> effectively invade server space, like NT), prioritized according to market
> presence...
Sun has tended to succeed by playing the standards game -- exerting a
leadership role in networking standards, then trying to ship leading platforms
to support the standards. What's happening with Java is bigger and louder than,
but not fundamentally different from, past battles over such things as NFS and
NIS.
Their approach isn't risk-free, of course; standards only work if everyone
adopts them, but they work best for Sun if everyone else does an inferior job
of adopting them. This puts Linux (and HP-UX, AIX, Ultrix, IRIX, etc.) in an
interesting position: Sun is happiest if these platforms threaten NT on x86 and
don't threaten Solaris on SPARC. The degree to which they succeed at this
determines their viability as a company.
Sun's treatment of Linux is a bit different from the commercial competitors,
because Linux always needs a little bit of extra help. But they're not making
the Blackdown porting and tuning work any easier than they have to -- if I were
a Sun stockholder, I'd be upset if they did :-). So if their support for Linux
seems a bit tepid, there's really no need to look for dark motives (unless you
consider the profit motive to be evil).
If Linux is to become a world-beater Java platform, it will ultimately be due
to efforts outside of Sun's walls: porting and tuning by the Blackdown team,
cleanroom implementations of the JRE, commercial implementations, etc. These
will be slow and painful efforts, and anyone betting their business on
Java/Linux will have to live off of their savings (of money and patience) for a
while. But the good news is that it's happening, even as we watch, here in
Linux-land. The secret is to stay tuned and stay calm.
Nathan Meyers
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