If Microsoft has taught us anything, it is that there are three golden rules for marketing:
Forget about building a reputation based on quality "state of the art" products and services. If you can master these three elements of marketing, than you can control your own destiny. To this end, Microsoft took two clear shots at Java and its proponents over the Summer:
Microsoft is making C# an open source alternative to Java, which will be tempting to developers, particularly those who voice concern over Sun's control over Java. I'm sure C# will also have hooks to Windows that will benefit Microsoft and no one else. Is C# a better alternative as a programming language to Java? Probably not, but it is being done in accordance with the three golden rules of marketing as listed above.
What does this mean to OS/2? If Microsoft is successful in undermining Java with C#, then OS/2's very existence is threatened. Let's not forget that Java was sold to us by IBM as the intelligent direction for computing platforms to go; that we should not worry about the platform as much as we should about the program. As OS/2 users, we were promised a multitude of useful Java programs that could run on our desktops. Unfortunately, far too little was delivered in this regard.
If C# is successful, then Java's future is cloudy and OS/2's is dark, unless, of course, someone at IBM puts C# into the operating system, which is highly unlikely considering the limited resources IBM is devoting to OS/2 development.
Keep the Faith!
Copyright © M&JB 2001