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Microsoft 2, SunScape 1

Despite its late arrival to the Web, Microsoft still leads Sun and Netscape in the battle for the Internet

By William Blundon, JavaWorld.com, 05/01/96

The Internet is a whole new ball game, and the season may be a short one. The league has progressed from spring training to the World Series* in just a matter of months. And while the championship series has just begun, after one inning of play it's already Microsoft 2, SunScape (Sun and Netscape) 1. In case you hadn't noticed, this is hardball, not softball.

The SunScape view of the world is that the browser is the new universal client that replaces Windows, at home and in the office. Similarly, the browser, Java language, the Java virtual machine, and other foundation technologies are an entirely new operating system for the Internet. Their view is that corporate developers will launch a browser when they get to the office in the morning and stay there all day writing software, reviewing email, and working with spreadsheets and other documents. The applications they write will run in a browser on any computer on a user's desktop -- or anywhere else, for that matter. The applications and their foundation technologies can be written to execute on everything from a Cray to a Macintosh, from a mainframe to a microwave oven. Browsers, large and small, will be everywhere -- in personal digital assistants, Internet terminals, televisions, and cellular phones.

Just as importantly, existing personal productivity software like Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint will be replaced by applets designed to run in the browser. The new software can be written as a series of relatively small applets with minimal capabilities. Why? Most people use only a fraction of the functions of their existing word processors or spreadsheet programs and never bother to learn the rest. Power users can simply download additional applets to their PC for local execution when needed.

The SunScape Internet strategy complements SunSoft's NEO architecture, which uses a CORBA-based distribution model to develop client/server applications that can integrate components from virtually any computer system, regardless of vendor. In the SunSoft world, applications can be designed to scale seamlessly from client/server operation to execution in a browser over the Internet. SunSoft already has a long-standing record of making software open, standard, and available on multiple platforms.

Readers who are old enough to remember the "1984" commercial for the Macintosh, in which the image of Big Brother is shattered by a hammer-wielding revolutionary, will have no trouble adapting it to the current situation. Microsoft is Big Brother and Java is a 100 MPH fastball aimed at the head of Bill Gates. But never underestimate Mr. Gates. Aside from having a lifetime batting average of about .750, he knows how to handle a bean ball.

Microsoft is attempting to provide its customers with two approaches to the Internet. One uses Java. The other uses Microsoft's Visual Basic Script, Internet Explorer, FrontPage, and Internet Studio. Microsoft's belief is that while some developers may want to write applications within a browser for execution solely within a browser, many more will want to take existing client/server applications written for Windows and adapt them for execution over the Net. The Microsoft strategy is to integrate its browser into the operating system so that it is just another Window on the developer's PC. This unified interface (code-named Nashville) provides common navigation and viewing capabilities for Web pages, office documents, and local PC resources.

 

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