Critics: Microsoft's Java update still Windows-biased
But that didn't stop critics from claiming that Microsoft is still dragging its heels on fulfilling Java's "write once, run everywhere" promise. The company has been ripped for tweaking its version of Java in favor of the Windows operating system.
Microsoft claims its Application Foundation Classes run on non-Microsoft browsers and Virtual Machines and are viable on Windows 95, Windows NT, Macintosh, and Solaris.
"That was our stated design goal, and if any developer has a problem doing that, we want to hear about it," said product manager Joe Herman.
The AFCs will not work with browsers supporting Sun's JDK 1.1 because Sun Microsystems Inc., the overseer of Java, broke compatibility with the older JDK. Microsoft has not decided whether to update the AFCs for non-Microsoft browsers as they come to support JDK 1.1.
Herman also denied reports that Microsoft's AFCs don't run on non-Windows platforms.
Developers said Microsoft has stopped talking about AFCs and does not appear to be committed to them. "Microsoft doesn't need to extend Java to make it successful because third parties are doing so much with it," said one developer.
"I'm not sure what for [AFCs for 1.02 browsers] buys you," said another developer. "JDK 1.1 is already written to a different event model -- that's the growing pains of Java -- so Microsoft has written a back-level AFC and made that redistributable. So what? It's a dead end. But anything Microsoft can do to create confusion is to their advantage."
Herman said Microsoft continues to back AFCs and has already shipped Java server classes that let developers access the Microsoft Transaction Server. He had no information on other enterprise AFCs that Microsoft announced last spring at JavaOne.
Microsoft's SDK for Java 2.01 goes with Internet Explorer 4.01. It also includes Win32 classes to simplify the use of J/Direct, a console for interactive viewing of output from Java programs, and permissions-based security.
JavaSoft, meanwhile, shipped the Java Developers Kit 1.1.5, which includes several bug fixes.