Apple and MS pledge to unify on Mac Java
Los Angeles - Java and electronic commerce got unexpected competition from the Southern California sun last week at Spring Internet World 98, where attendees enjoyed a rare break from El Nino storms.
While Apple did not have a booth on the floor of the Los Angeles Convention Center, the company did team up with Microsoft Corp. to announce that the pair will collaborate on a single Java virtual machine for the Mac OS.
The companies said the new virtual machine, to ship later this year, will be based on Apple's Mac OS Runtime for Java (MRJ) and will incorporate some Microsoft Java technologies.
The new virtual machine will use Apple's JDirect API, which lets Java applications access Mac system software. Apple said developers will be able to access JDirect using standard Java syntax and compilers. The two companies said they will also fold in portions of Microsoft's similarly named J/Direct technology, including a Java security-management scheme and code debugger.
Apple promised that the upcoming MRJ amalgamation will meet Sun Microsystems Inc.'s definition of a Java-compatible virtual machine. Microsoft's J/Direct for Windows platforms currently requires nonstandard Java syntax and special Java compilers. By combining the two companies' Java work, Apple said, users will see improved Java performance, thanks to Microsoft's optimization efforts.
" Supporting a lot of VMs is tough on developers,;", said Gary Little, Apple Java product manager. " When we get down to a single VM, it will make things a lot easier."
Sharon Carmel, executive vice president of Geo-Interactive Media Group, a Java authoring tool developer in Givataim, Israel, said, "Where you have fewer versions of virtual machines, you have fewer risks of incompatibilities."
On the show floor, Apple wasn't the only major company whose absence was felt. Attendees said they wondered why Adobe Systems Inc. and Netscape Communications Corp. did not make an appearance.
Show goers crowded into booths to watch demonstrations of Microsoft Windows 98, Live Picture Inc.'s newly shipping Reality Studio and Macromedia Inc.'s new Fireworks Web graphics tool.
Mac systems were scarce on the show floor, but electronic commerce products for Windows NT and Unix were bountiful; many newly unveiled products require NT or Unix servers and are administered through Web browsers.
Santa Clara, Calif.-based Encanto Networks Inc. showed E.go Commerce, a $1,295 device that packs Java-based e-mail and Web servers, as well as electronic commerce capabilities through Java Database Connectivity. Intershop Communications Inc. of San Francisco demonstrated Intershop 3, a $4,995 online store suite for NT and Unix.
Many attendees said they manage multiple platforms. Douglas Hall, MIS manager at Hollywood Online in Santa Monica, Calif., said his company designs its Web site on the Mac OS, serves it on Unix, and administrates it on Windows 95 and NT.
"The G3s got my attention," Hall said. "Prior to that, we were kind of anti-Mac." Hall said he was particularly interested in electronic commerce and in Worthington Software Engineering Inc.'s PageSplitter, a Web graphics tool (see 02.23.98, Page 19).
Los Angeles - Java and electronic commerce got unexpected competition from the Southern California sun last week at Spring Internet World 98, where attendees enjoyed a rare break from El Nino storms.
While Apple did not have a booth on the floor of the Los Angeles Convention Center, the company did team up with Microsoft Corp. to announce that the pair will collaborate on a single Java virtual machine for the Mac OS.
The companies said the new virtual machine, to ship later this year, will be based on Apple's Mac OS Runtime for Java (MRJ) and will incorporate some Microsoft Java technologies.
The new virtual machine will use Apple's JDirect API, which lets Java applications access Mac system software. Apple said developers will be able to access JDirect using standard Java syntax and compilers. The two companies said they will also fold in portions of Microsoft's similarly named J/Direct technology, including a Java security-management scheme and code debugger.
Apple promised that the upcoming MRJ amalgamation will meet Sun Microsystems Inc.'s definition of a Java-compatible virtual machine. Microsoft's J/Direct for Windows platforms currently requires nonstandard Java syntax and special Java compilers. By combining the two companies' Java work, Apple said, users will see improved Java performance, thanks to Microsoft's optimization efforts.
" Supporting a lot of VMs is tough on developers,;", said Gary Little, Apple Java product manager. " When we get down to a single VM, it will make things a lot easier."
Sharon Carmel, executive vice president of Geo-Interactive Media Group, a Java authoring tool developer in Givataim, Israel, said, "Where you have fewer versions of virtual machines, you have fewer risks of incompatibilities."
On the show floor, Apple wasn't the only major company whose absence was felt. Attendees said they wondered why Adobe Systems Inc. and Netscape Communications Corp. did not make an appearance.
Show goers crowded into booths to watch demonstrations of Microsoft Windows 98, Live Picture Inc.'s newly shipping Reality Studio and Macromedia Inc.'s new Fireworks Web graphics tool.
Mac systems were scarce on the show floor, but electronic commerce products for Windows NT and Unix were bountiful; many newly unveiled products require NT or Unix servers and are administered through Web browsers.
Santa Clara, Calif.-based Encanto Networks Inc. showed E.go Commerce, a $1,295 device that packs Java-based e-mail and Web servers, as well as electronic commerce capabilities through Java Database Connectivity. Intershop Communications Inc. of San Francisco demonstrated Intershop 3, a $4,995 online store suite for NT and Unix.
Many attendees said they manage multiple platforms. Douglas Hall, MIS manager at Hollywood Online in Santa Monica, Calif., said his company designs its Web site on the Mac OS, serves it on Unix, and administrates it on Windows 95 and NT.
"The G3s got my attention," Hall said. "Prior to that, we were kind of anti-Mac." Hall said he was particularly interested in electronic commerce and in Worthington Software Engineering Inc.'s PageSplitter, a Web graphics tool (see 02.23.98, Page 19).
Los Angeles - Java and electronic commerce got unexpected competition from the Southern California sun last week at Spring Internet World 98, where attendees enjoyed a rare break from El Nino storms.
While Apple did not have a booth on the floor of the Los Angeles Convention Center, the company did team up with Microsoft Corp. to announce that the pair will collaborate on a single Java virtual machine for the Mac OS.
The companies said the new virtual machine, to ship later this year, will be based on Apple's Mac OS Runtime for Java (MRJ) and will incorporate some Microsoft Java technologies.
The new virtual machine will use Apple's JDirect API, which lets Java applications access Mac system software. Apple said developers will be able to access JDirect using standard Java syntax and compilers. The two companies said they will also fold in portions of Microsoft's similarly named J/Direct technology, including a Java security-management scheme and code debugger.
Apple promised that the upcoming MRJ amalgamation will meet Sun Microsystems Inc.'s definition of a Java-compatible virtual machine. Microsoft's J/Direct for Windows platforms currently requires nonstandard Java syntax and special Java compilers. By combining the two companies' Java work, Apple said, users will see improved Java performance, thanks to Microsoft's optimization efforts.
" Supporting a lot of VMs is tough on developers,;", said Gary Little, Apple Java product manager. " When we get down to a single VM, it will make things a lot easier."
Sharon Carmel, executive vice president of Geo-Interactive Media Group, a Java authoring tool developer in Givataim, Israel, said, "Where you have fewer versions of virtual machines, you have fewer risks of incompatibilities."
On the show floor, Apple wasn't the only major company whose absence was felt. Attendees said they wondered why Adobe Systems Inc. and Netscape Communications Corp. did not make an appearance.
Show goers crowded into booths to watch demonstrations of Microsoft Windows 98, Live Picture Inc.'s newly shipping Reality Studio and Macromedia Inc.'s new Fireworks Web graphics tool.
Mac systems were scarce on the show floor, but electronic commerce products for Windows NT and Unix were bountiful; many newly unveiled products require NT or Unix servers and are administered through Web browsers.
Santa Clara, Calif.-based Encanto Networks Inc. showed E.go Commerce, a $1,295 device that packs Java-based e-mail and Web servers, as well as electronic commerce capabilities through Java Database Connectivity. Intershop Communications Inc. of San Francisco demonstrated Intershop 3, a $4,995 online store suite for NT and Unix.
Many attendees said they manage multiple platforms. Douglas Hall, MIS manager at Hollywood Online in Santa Monica, Calif., said his company designs its Web site on the Mac OS, serves it on Unix, and administrates it on Windows 95 and NT.
"The G3s got my attention," Hall said. "Prior to that, we were kind of anti-Mac." Hall said he was particularly interested in electronic commerce and in Worthington Software Engineering Inc.'s PageSplitter, a Web graphics tool (see 02.23.98, Page 19).