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Java: A platform for platforms
Sun's reorg may seem promising to shareholders but it's also a scramble for position. The question now is whether Sun can,
or wants to, maintain its hold on Java technology. Especially with enterprise leaders like SpringSource and RedHat investing
heavily in Java's future as a platform for platforms
Also see:
Discuss: Tim Bray on 'What Sun Should Do'
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When "push" comes to shove
Push technology is all the rage -- What does this mean for Java?
- Feedback
- Discuss
Access your mental archives and retrieve an image of Will Robinson (the young co-star of the series) walking buoyantly through some bucolic, oddly vegetated, alien landscape. Suddenly from off-camera come the flailing mechanical arms of the family robot, wheels turning, lights flashing, and declaiming: "Danger, Will Robinson. Danger, Will Robinson (or whatever the equivalent may be in your local language)."
Now think about push technology
Push products are all the rage. It is impossible to read the popular press and not see an article proclaiming it as the Next Big Thing. It is, or at least it probably is the next big thing, and there are three major reasons why.
First, the Internet is a major story, but it is rapidly becoming old news. The media needs a fresh angle and push is it (not a great reason for all the hoopla, but an important one). Second, already there is an awful lot of content on the 'Net, and it continues to grow exponentially. There are a number of excellent search engines in the market, but finding what you want, when you want it is becoming increasingly time consuming. Finally, making money on the Web has been harder than many people thought it would be. Everyone is in search of an improved business model. The first law of venture capital is that there is always money to be made where need and technology meet.
So what does this mean to you? Well, if you are not using a push product today, you probably will be in the future. The most important reason for this is nicely encapsulated in the name of the leading push company: Pointcast. The broadcasting model of the television age achieved maximum profitability by identifying the largest viewing audience and selling advertising to vendors of mass-market products. Despite a large investment in research, developing a demographic profile of this audience has always been rudimentary. In the broadcast media, this has led to programming for the least common denominator. Cable television has increased the ability of advertisers to reach a select audience, but good demographics are still hard to come by.
Pointcast, and the other push vendors -- such as BackWeb, Data Channel, Individual's Freeloader, Intermind, Lanacom, Marimba, and Wayfarer (see Resources) -- have learned an important lesson from television. In a world of unlimited information, rather than broadcast to the masses, it can be more lucrative to "narrowcast" information to a select audience. Most people do not want 1,000 television channels -- they want one channel that shows what they want to see when they want to see it. Letting people configure to their specific needs the presentation of information from a multitude of channels is good for the consumer and great for business.
- Feedback
Resources
- Information and a free download of the Pointcast client are available at its Web site:
http://www.pointcast.com
A more in-depth look at the Pointcast product is available at:
http://pioneer.pointcast.com/products/winfact3.html - Marimba provides Castanet, an excellent Java-based push product designed for software distribution. A detailed look at Castanet
is available at:
http://www.marimba.com/datasheets/castanet-ds.html - BackWeb provides a series of products designed for use by commercial sites and corporate intranets. A technical overview is
available at:
http://www.backweb.com/wii/wii_tch.html - Intermind provides a set of lightweight push products that are profiled at:
http://www.intermind.com/prod_demo/how_does_it.html - Similarly, Wayfarer provides a set of products primarily focused on corporate developers. Their Incisa products are outlined
at:
http://www.wayfarer.com/whatis/incisa-wp.htm#architecture - Data Channel provides a set of products to construct a personal desktop. An overview of their architecture is available at:
http://www.datachannel.com/products/index.htm - Lanacom's Headliner products provide a personal desktop with context agents to help select information at specific times.
The products are outlined at:
http://www.headliner.com/faq.html - One of the godfathers of push technology is Individual, Inc. It has a subsidiary named Freeloader that provides a lightweight
client and a number of existing content channels. An excellent discussion of push can be found at:
http://www.freeloader.com/push2.htm - Microsoft Network site is located at:
http://www.msnbc.com/toolkit.asp
- Previous "Blundon's Corner" columns
- Deciphering the NC world -- Network Computers and Internet appliances hold great promise for the world at large and for Java in particular.
- How Microsoft is broadening Java's scope -- Presents a positive spin on Microsoft's "embrace and extend" directive.
- "Netscape TWO" -- The Open Network Environment (ONE) improved -- Describes how Netscape has enhanced its intranet strategy and formed a response to Microsoft's position in the corporate computing world.
- So you want to build an intranet? -- Presents six key issues to think about before implementing an internal Web site.
- Oracle redefines the balance of power -- Focuses on Oracle's Networking Computing Architecture, a serious player on the intranet.
- Netscape outlines its vision for the futureNONE -- Discusses the Open Network Environment (ONE) and how it has taken on Microsoft behind the firewall.
- Java and ActiveX -- Points out that Java may have won on the Internet but that the intranet rules.
- What can kill Java? -- Pinpoints the serious land mines that the new programming language must now dodge.
- The center of the universe is a database -- Talks about Java and its role in the corporate database.
- Plug-Ins? Opt Out! -- Discusses how plug-ins can't rival Java as an option for developing distributed software.
- Microsoft 2, SunScape 1 -- Explains how, despite its late arrival to the Web, Microsoft still leads Sun and Netscape in the battle for the Internet.
- How can Java rule the world? -- Suggests three key steps to Java's success.
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