The Trouble With Java

This holiday season, my muscles are aching. No, not from shoveling snow--from shoveling out from under dueling Java versions. And while the courts continue to debate who's on first between Sun and Microsoft, the rest of us continue to dig deeper into our computers' operating systems to make our applications work.

Both companies share equal blame for this predicament. Ironically, Java is now a victim of its own success in the marketplace. As it is used in more places, the potential for conflict increases. The problem is that Java is a slippery character, entering your computer as an application or as a server-based or browser-based add-on.

I had to install a new copy of Java to run some application or another at home a few weeks ago. Once I did so, my copy of iNotes Web Access refused to work inside my browser. Sometimes you need a full client copy of Java, sometimes it comes to you care of your Web browser, and sometimes it comes as part and parcel of the operating system. And sometimes you don't just know and have to play Java detective. Is this any way to run a railroad?

Speaking of historic legal monopolies, Microsoft was legally prevented from shipping Java as part of Windows. So it removed Java from Windows XP, and now we all suffer. To make matters worse, when Microsoft put it back in with XP's Service Pack 1, it wasn't really the full monty or the most recent code according to Sun. (And not everyone wants to update their Windows operating system, especially if their computers are working fine.) On some friends' computers that have the original XP Java-less version, I couldn't gain access to their Netgear hub/firewalls because the management software is Web-based and requires Java to run. What started out as something simple turned into a Java nightmare.

So what's the solution? Now that Java is tied up in our legal system, I am afraid we all will have to suffer through this a bit more. It would help if Sun could label its versions between Web, client and server somewhat consistently and clearly. It would help if Microsoft could stop pretending that its versions of Java were equivalent to Sun's. It would help if both companies could work together for a change, without their incredible hubris getting the better of them. And it would help all of us immeasurably. Even Scrooge got with the holiday spirit. But that was fiction. Sun and Microsoft both deserve a lump of coal in their holiday stockings for getting us into this mess.