Ask the Experts
Ask the experts is a column in the Financial
Times IT Review supplement, which focuses on addressing IT issues faced by
business leaders. This short article, written by Auridian’s MD and founder, Ade McCormack, appeared in the 31st
March edition.
Today’s
question is:
"Is Java a safe bet?"
Picture this: Despite the costs, you are moving your
distributed workforce to one office. The chief architect tells you that you
have a choice between two architectural models and, oh by the way, only one
will prevail over the next 3 years. Choose the wrong one and building
maintenance/enhancements will be your worst nightmare. Worse still, the
building may never get finished. This would get your attention. Wouldn’t it?
Now picture this: Your CIO
informs you that Java is the chosen technology going forward. Like many you
might regard this as a technical detail.
Well think again.
As you read this there is an IT architecture title fight in
full swing. The pugilists are Microsoft and Sun Microsystems. With IBM holding
the sponge and smelling salts for the latter, but really hoping that the fight
will drain the title fighters allowing it to step into the ring at the end and
deliver a crushing blow to the last man standing.
However the market perceives the fight as Java versus
Microsoft, with Java being the good guy. Java is a programming language, but is
part of a suite of tools and technologies that enable people to build
sophisticated IT systems. Microsoft’s equivalent box of architectural tricks is
known as .NET (pronounced dotnet). Java’s reputation is underpinned by a number
of attractive benefits:
- It
is platform independent, ie it does not lock you into the underlying
hardware and operating system. Unlike Microsoft’s approach.
- It
is optimised for the Internet. Microsoft’s approach is now remarkably
similar.
Let’s dwell on the difference. Microsoft’s equivalent
programming language is C# (pronounced C Sharp). Java’s platform flexibility
allows IT departments to migrate their applications to essentially the platform
that is cheapest/ most robust/funkiest with minimal headache. With C# you are
‘vacuum sealed’ to Microsoft’s Windows operating system and not surprisingly
the software giant would like to keep it that way. C#, which might as well have
the tagline’ ‘Death to Java’ is marketed as follows: ‘Why use a technology that
runs slowly on all platforms when you can use one that is optimised for the
market’s most popular platform?’ ‘Compelling, but how comfortable do you feel
building an office where the materials are only available from one vendor?’ is
the retort.
But consider this. Java being platform independent doesn’t
make it vendor independent. Like C# and Windows it is under the control of a
single vendor, Sun Microsystems, whose credit rating currently has a status of
‘junk’.
I am not commenting on the merits of either technology, not
that it has anything to do with technology merits. This battle will be
concluded in the marketing field. Sun has a spiritual following plus the full
backing of the ABM Club (Anybody But Microsoft can join). This is important.
However when Microsoft takes a dislike to a competitor’s offering, that
competitor is best advised to change markets or to reposition itself in a niche
so narrow that Microsoft no longer feels threatened.
It is too early to identify the victor. Smart organisations
are currently ‘betting both horses’, which increases the burden on your IT
department’s resources. The next time
your CIO mentions Java or dotnet have your scalpel ready to dissect their
reasoning.
