At 1:45 AM 4/26/96, Blake Coverett wrote:

...

Still, integrating Java and Internet browsing into the OS does not bode well for Netscape.

<CRYSTALBALL> My bet is that five years from now Netscape will be remembered as the company that forced MS to give it away for free. </CRYSTALBALL>

-Blake (who's keeping all his irons in the fire anyway :-)

I tend to agree with Blake on this, as one might expect. Speaking as a longterm Mac user, I certainly feel no compulsion to drop my Mac/Netscape package and switch to Microsoft. Bundling Java in with Windows (which actually was reported as long ago as last Friday, on C/NET's page, http://www.cnet.com/) may be a near-necessity for Microsoft, and for other OS vendors. Apple is also reported to be planning to make its next OS major release, "Copeland," an "Internet-savvy" release. Its "CyberDog" (dumb name) will be bundled with Java as part of Copeland. Metrowerks (the Code Warrior people) is said to be a partner in this. Symantec's "Cafe" JIT compiler for Java is reported to have a 13x speedup over JDK code, and is only slightly slower than compiled C code. Borland is also working on JIT stuff, reportedly for Sun itself. How it all shakes out remains unclear, but I stand by my "mindshare" point of view, that Java is fast-becoming a lingua franca for Web-centric use. (C certainly was, in a different sense, not for cross-platform easy use.) I'll bet, however, that Microsoft will not be "winner-take-all" in this. They're doing some impressively nimble rearrangements of plans, but there is little indication they'll be able to dominate things. --Tim May Boycott "Big Brother Inside" software! We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, we know that that ain't allowed. ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay@got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Licensed Ontologist | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."