Re: forwarded message from Olivier.Lefevre@wdr.com

[Nathan Meyers <nmeyers@teleport.com>]

Tom Tromey wrote:
> 
> I'm forwarding this for Olivier Lefevre.
> 
> I don't want to sound smug, particularly as I may be wrong, but I strongly
> suspect that you are all missing the point and that SUN's decisions to go with
> an all-Java windowing framework is that at some point SUN plans to offer a Java
> windowing toolkit with Solaris, possibly running on a Java co-processor. Then of
> course Swing would go native overnight.

Your prediction makes eminent sense. Then all it will take to render the
discussion of Swing's problems irrelevant is for this new platform to
win all the business away from other X platforms and all Windows
platforms. We're in for some interesting times.

Nathan


> Indeed this ties in rather neatly with SUN's early plans for a Java OS, the
> increasing Java-ization of Solaris, the trend in their microlelectronics
> division towards increasing on-chip integration and the continuing work in that
> same division on Java chips. The latest development at SUN Micro: the
> announcement of the "Microprocessor Architecture for Java Computing" effectively
> blends the last two trends.
> 
> Another way to look at it is to remind yourself that there are very smart people
> working for SUN (the Open Source -TM- movement does not have a monopoly of them)
> and the probability that there is a good reason for this apprarently aberrant
> choice is rather higher than at most other companies. It just isn't obvious
> (yet). Of course in the interim the drawbacks that you indicated are all too
> real.
> 
> Only time will tell what SUN's plan are (or were) and whether the course they
> took was wise. After all, they already blew it once with windowing systems: when
> they failed to make NeWS a standard like NFS and had to go to Canossa as a
> result (I mean, convert to X/Motif). Since in a rather convoluted way Java is
> heir to NeWS, maybe they want to undo this and get their revenge! OK, I was just
> kidding with this last one...
> 
> Regards
> 
> -- O.L.