Re: The great Java showcase (re: 2nd historic mistake)

[BruceMount@aol.com]

Apparently Silvio Calissi wrote (I did not see the posting):
>
> Paul Johnson wrote in article <5u61fk$e23$5@miranda.gmrc.gecm.com>
> >Sun come along with Java, and suddenly it makes more progress in 1 year
> than
> >Eiffel has in its entire existence, despite being clearly inferior to
> >Eiffel on every ground that Eiffel has ever been criticized on.
>
> Why did companies like SUN, MS, Borland, ... support JAVA instead of another
> (better) language. Do you think that they are stupid ? How can they be
> ignorant that this leads to the second historic mistake ?
> I really like to know some opinions on this.


Sun, Microsoft, Borland, etc. ARE in fact very smart companies.
However, it is important to realize that their goals may or
may not align with your goals as a technologist.

The major impetus behind Java is that it allows Sun,
Netscape, etc. to challenge the dominance of Microsoft
and Intel.  Period.  They want to do this so that they
can make money, which is totally fine with me.....I'd
like to make money too.

They need a proprietary technology (Java) so that they
can control/direct it's future as part of their overall
marketing play.  I personally think that Sun et. al. has
made a brilliant marketing play here.  I am not knocking
the value (or power) or marketing or making money.
Hell, I keep wishing *I'd* invented the Pet Rock.

However, I don't think we should kid ourselves about
it either.  Sun et. al. did NOT propose Java because
they thought it was "the best" technology.  They
proposed it because it was "good enough" and under
their control and cause they thought it could
fundamentally change the computer marketplace.
Eiffel was already in the public domain (thanks Bertrand)
and thus would not have served Sun's purpose.

As to why Eiffel has not been as successful in
the marketplace....I am surprised I even need
to answer this.  The combined total marketing
budgets of Tower, ISE, and SIG is a fraction
of what a single large department at Sun might
have.  Sun runs national ads for Java.  Sun
can have a publicist at every trade show....can
call every tech columnist.....The Eiffel
community can't afford that.

Actually, what surprises me is that Microsoft
hasn't latched on to Eiffel as part of their
"slow Java" campaign.  Eiffel is in the public
domain and they could either build their own
compiler or buy one.  Given the right promotion,
Microsoft could catapult Eiffel into a strong
competitor to Java which would be sufficient to
slow the moves of Sun and others.

--Bruce

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