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Knights of the Java Technology Roundtable
Industry leaders scrutinize the issues and market directions for Java technology in the year ahead.
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JavaOne, March 28, 2002 — Technology leaders in the Java vendor community gathered Wednesday afternoon at the Sheraton Palace Hotel in San Francisco to vigorously examine, in "town hall" format, the technical issues and market directions for Java technology in the coming year.
Introduced by Java Pro Editorial Director Dan Ruby and moderated by Sun Chief Technology Evangelist Simon Phipps, the Technology Roundtable, under the auspices of Java Pro magazine, focused on three main concerns: software development, application deployment, and wireless development.
Panel participants represented key segments of the Java-related industry:
- Steve Benfield, Chief Technologist, Silverstream Software
- Ted Farrell, Architect and Director of Strategy, Application Development Tools Division, Oracle Corporation
- Kasper Brehmer, Java Applications Manager, Nokia
- Hal Jespersen, CTO, Products Division, iPlanet E-Commerce Solutions
- Neil McGovern, Director, E-Business Division, Sybase
- Adrian Mitu, Market Manager, IBM WebSphere Studio, IBM
- David Chappell, Chief Technology Evangelist, Sonic Software
- Simon Pepper, Chief Technology Evangelist, IONA Technologies
- Benjamin Renaud, Director, Office of the CTO, BEA Systems
- Ted Shelton, Chief Strategy Officer, Borland Software
- Jack Walicki, CTO, Middleware Division, Hewlett-Packard
Trends in Java Development [Play this section]
Services-oriented architectures are driving new frameworks and environments for enterprise development. When Simon Phipps asked the roundtable participants what was happening to Web services, there was general agreement that Web services have "truly revolutionary qualities," as Benjamin Renaud put it.
There was some debate as to the speed of adoption of Web services. David Chappell likened the acceptance of Web services to the adoption of the Web. Steve Benfield thought adoption would happen sooner than expected, while Neil McGovern claimed that CIOs are slow to accept Web standards, because they can't figure out what will be important to them in the short-term. Jack Walicki seemed to echo McGovern's sentiment when he said not everyone can agree to what Web services are in the first place. Besides, there are too many examples of proofs of concept, he stated, and not enough implementation. The need for tools is paramount, they agreed, because Microsoft wants to own the programming model.
Benfield hoped that Java would be made easier. As it stands now, we're very far away from the time when a "mythical IT manager" can create a million-dollar app in fifteen minutes by choosing easy-to-use tools based on Web services.
Application Integration to the Fore [Play this section]
The competition in J2EE deployment environments has moved higher up the stack into transactions, messaging, and integration. As a result, application server vendors are differentiating their offerings. Renaud claimed that standards are going to cause a revolution; the only alternative is vendor lock-in. But standards committees operate so sluggishly, complained Ted Shelton. Microsoft moves faster than they, he said, and it wants to fragment the market. He also chided the industry for not doing as good a job as Microsoft at clarifying the marketing message. Microsoft says that "everything will be .NET" when in fact the J2EE Connector Architecture (JCA) shows promise. As Renaud put it, "JCA 1.0 isn't it, and JCA 1.5 is closer, but JCA 2.0 will be there."
Enabling the Wireless Enterprise [Play this section]
A key theme at JavaOne is that Java is making inroads into the wireless world. Both the broad availability of Java-enabled devices and the maturity of J2ME technology are fueling innovation in applications for mobile workers and consumers alike. Renaud stated that smartphones are "where the action is." Yet challenges still abound, and problems must be solved.
There are too many form factors, for starters. Kasper Brehmer admitted that cell phone manufacturers have created a fragmented market. According to him, there's an initiative at Nokia to conform to only four models. Shelton said that Java has been completely unsuccessful in the mobile market: "We need to move beyond MIDP," he said. There was general consensus—Phipps' Linux-powered Sharp Zaurus notwithstanding—that the focus in the wireless and PDA industry has relied heavily on the consumer market. Microsoft's strength is pushing its operating systems at consumers. Microsoft gets it; just look at their PDA ads that show a friendly Pocket PC next to a boring Palm-like device. The panelists agreed that the enterprise market will be the real payoff (apps in hospitals, cars, location-based services, and the like)—and not all devices will end up running Windows CE to make that happen.
Final Thoughts [Play this section]
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