Related link: http://developer.java.sun.com/developer/techDocs/Newsletters/2001/nl0918.html

Here is the latest Java Developer Connection(JDC) Newsletter, covering Early Access software releases, new products, developer programs and more. Product news covers JAXM, JAXR, J2SE 1.4 Beta, J2ME Wireless Toolkit 1.0.3 Beta, latest Java 3D Beta, JAIN, etc. All in all, it’s a good comprehensive monthly newsletter from Sun. Enjoy. For more Java, visit ONJava.com.

Because of the spreading Nimda virus, Gartner and other sources have recommended that enterprise level businesses use other platforms besides Windows OS and .NET. Is this a hiccup or the beginning of much more?

It is my belief that this is a hiccup, for now. But the apparent security flaws in the Windows OS, along with IIS and IE vulnerabilities, may force Microsoft to consider a Windows OS rebuild in the long-term. For now, they’ll likely have to stick to patch-work solutions, something they’ve been good at for some time. So far, however, Nimda has exploited patchwork.

Back to long-term implications, enterprise level developers have always feared server-side Windows OS because of a number of issues, including security or lack thereof. This will make Windows as well as IIS even less palatable development environments, which will clearly affect the adoption of the .NET framework. Therefore, Microsoft will clearly have to look at a redesign of at least its server-side Windows OS, by considering the following: Windows OS with a Linux kernel (Winux).

This is not so off-the-wall. Look at Apple’s Mac OS X. It’s based on a BSD kernel. Anyway, it’s something Microsoft should seriously consider. They would certainly help in building a better performing and more secure OS, as well as win over developers not currently interested in or using .NET.

For more on Windows and .NET, visit our .NET DevCenter. For more on Linux, BSD and more, visit our Linux DevCenter and/or ONLamp.com.

Share your thoughts on whether or not this is just a hiccup or much more. If much more, what other solutions would you offer MS (if any)?

According to a Giga Information Group report: “.NET helps Microsoft become more competitive in the enterprise development market but won’t make it a real threat to its major competition, Sun’s J2EE (source: Information Week’s Jason Levitt).”

Microsoft isn’t expected to get more than 35 % of the enterprise development market over the next two years. This is clearly in contrast to Sun’s market advantage. While Giga goes on to explain development platform differences, maturity, advantages and disadvantages, it seems to miss the most important point of all: Approximately 85 - 90% of developers and IT managers who adopt .NET are using a server-side Windows OS (i.e., Windows 2000 Professional, Windows NT, etc.).

Server-side Windows OS has between 25% - 32% of the total server-side OS market share, which consists of Windows, UNIX, Linux, Solaris and other. This is clearly in contrast to J2EE developers, who develop mostly for the server-side OS majority that’s not Windows (68% - 75%), consisting of UNIX, Linux, Solaris and other.

Giga goes on to say, “…the J2EE platform provides a richer set of tools and more vendor independence than Microsoft’s .NET. Though Microsoft will maintain strength with small to midsize businesses, the report points out that J2EE has more mature clustering, load balancing, and failover technology, and Java is a more productive language for building enterprise applications, at least until C# and .NET mature.” There is some truth to this, but .NET clearly has some advantages currently, including a standardized Web services framework and better interoperability.

For more on .NET and J2EE platform differences, check out Jim Farley’s article “Microsoft .NET vs. J2EE: How Do They Stack Up?”

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Tell me which platform is better, and why?

Related link: http://www.win2000mag.com/Articles/Index.cfm?ArticleID=22364

“In George Orwell’s Animal Farm, the animals on a small farm revolt against the farmer and create a seemingly utopian world in which all animals share the labor and the fruits of that labor. Now, the programming world faces a similar revolt.” This is certainly an interesting take on .NET from Windows 2000 Magazine

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For more on .NET, visit our .NET DevCenter.

What do you think of this article?

In this article, Microsoft unveils its new Merlin software. Wait a minute, Sun also unveiled its Merlin software recently. This could be the beginning of a trademark and branding battle.

MS Merlin is actually another new brand for PocketPC 2002, a new OS for handheld devices. Merlin “increases the number of Windows desktop applications duplicated (or at least simulated) in the handheld device — including MSN Messenger, Windows Media Player and Microsoft Reader. …all future PocketPCs will support flash memory so next-generation devices can be upgraded via the Internet.”

Sun’s Merlin, on the other hand, is another branding attempt for the latest Java Development Kit (JDK), actually the Java 2 Standard Edition (J2SE) development platform for Java programming and development for the client-side desktop PC or Mac.

Although one is for wireless clients and the latter is for desktop clients, both using the same branding will certainly inspire combat between Microsoft and Sun. In fact, it may have already started with an injunction against Microsoft, who claim to have the Trademark ™ or Service Mark (SM), as evidenced by Sun who has apparently backed-off using the Merlin brand of late.

More on this as it develops, and as available.

If you have any leads on this as it unfolds, feel free to let us know.

Related link: http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/06/technology/06COOK.html

The New York Times has been running a good series of articles this week by John Schwartz about online privacy and cookies particularly. As the secretary of the 1995/96 IETF cookies standardization effort referred to in the first article, I’m happy to see these issues get such prominent coverage. It certainly isn’t true, as one of the article’s subjects claims, that the privacy concerns we see today are something of a surprise — in fact all of the scenarios that are of the greatest concern now were raised and considered before we had ever heard of DoubleClick or its ilk. Instead, the group’s Netscape representative (Microsoft was not participating at that point) was very clear that the company did not believe it could provide the privacy protections the group wanted, because its customers (that is, the companies buying Netscape’s server products) would not accept these limitations. It’s interesting to see privacy become one of the most-touted features of the just-released Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0. I wonder what market forces have changed over the past five years. Have Internet companies recognized that without sufficient privacy guarantees, the average consumer won’t even consider an online transaction? I hope so.

This issue certainly isn’t restricted to today’s definition of “online” privacy. A couple of years ago I signed up for digital cable in San Francisco (then provided by TCI, now provided by AT&T Broadband). During the install, the service rep told me I needed a phone line plugged into the back of the cable box. Why, I asked? So that Pay-per-View will work, he said. I let him install the phone line and then immediately unplugged it from the box. No problem, worked fine — for about two years, until one day my whole cable system went dark. I called AT&T Broadband, and they told me they didn’t know why my cable was off, but they would send out a service rep. When the rep arrived he told me I needed the phone line plugged into the box. Why, I asked? So that Pay-per-View will work, he said. I don’t use Pay-per-View, I said. Well, you need it so the box can send usage data back up to the central office, he finally admitted. Aha…. Looking at his work-order later on, I saw a note to the technician: “Disable non-responding [cable box]. Do not enable until responding.” So AT&T Broadband was deliberately forcing users to give up privacy in order to get digital cable, and cutting off service if they did not comply. I downgraded to regular cable, which does not require a phone line. (Amusingly, the “Service call reasons” for the downgrade were listed as “Price/Value.” Nope — I would pay more for a cable service that did not insist on monitoring my usage! Too bad cable is a local monopoly.)

AT&T Broadband lost business by violating my privacy, and they ignored my complaints in their own records. I assume from this that they don’t even track privacy complaints from users. How many would-be Web users look at an article in the Times and write off the Internet as a whole? That’s not tracked, either — but online businesses would do well to weigh the data they gain versus the business they inevitably lose by letting privacy concerns go unheard.