Microsoft, JavaSoft Java battle escalates

San Mateo (07/28/97) — The jousting over Java technology intensified last week when Microsoft dismissed the cross-platform Java mantra as economically unviable and JavaSoft detailed plans to boost the performance of Java applications.

At stake is whether JavaSoft can sustain developer interest in its 100% Pure Java cross-platform initiative with technology that provides adequate performance, or whether developers will choose better performance with Microsoft’s native Windows hooks.

JavaSoft last week sought to narrow the performance gap of its Java virtual machine with the release of the Java Performance Runtime for Windows, which has an improved Java virtual machine and Symantec’s just-in-time (JIT) compiler.

In the long term, JavaSoft hopes to flatten the remaining speed bumps in the cross-platform Java environment with the HotSpot dynamic compilation technology it acquired earlier this year with LongView Technologies. HotSpot promises to rival native platform performance of C++ with so-called adaptive optimization, permitting Java code to run first in interpreted mode and then be analyzed and optimized to target the parameters of each platform, said Eric Chu, JavaSoft’s Java Development Kit (JDK) product manager.

Meanwhile, Microsoft officials last week at Windows strategy briefings blasted the concept of a cross-platform formula as impractical and inefficient. Paul Maritz, group vice president, in Redmond, WA, said layering JavaSoft’s Java Foundation Classes (JFC) on top of the Windows platform was pointless because developers can access Windows directly with Java.

“If an OS adds a new feature and the OS has a large market share, then it is economically crazy not to take advantage of that,” Maritz said.

Referring to JFC and Windows, “We have no intention of shipping another bloated OS and shoving it down the throats of our users,” Maritz added.

Microsoft’s performance advantages on Windows will continue to hinder JavaSoft until and unless the Sun division delivers on the promise of its HotSpot Java virtual machine technologies, analysts said.

But developers could have to wait until late 1998 before they can take advantage of the faster Java environment, which is slated for release with the JDK update in the first quarter of 1998.

The wait for the HotSpot-enabled Java platform could be worth it, according to one analyst.

“Certain parts of Java code don’t get compiled down to native code, and other applications don’t [repeatedly] execute the same instructions, so a JIT compiler won’t improve performance as much,” explained Anne Thomas, a senior consultant at the Patricia Seybold Group, in Boston.

But Microsoft officials who assessed the HotSpot technology said it will only be useful in a narrow set of applications. Though important, speed is only one variable in the choice of language for server applications, according to observers and licensees.

“Developers don’t ask about Java performance relative to C++ for server-side applications. They’re not just after performance,” said Zack Urlocker, vice president of product management at Borland, in Scotts Valley, Calif.

Indeed, one analyst said regardless of when the HotSpot technology surfaces, JavaSoft is ultimately less concerned with raw speed.

“Lurking behind all of this is the fact that the JavaSoft people don’t really expect to hit these performance issues for a while,” said John Rymer, an analyst at the Giga Information Group, in Cambridge, Mass.

Whether developers opt for platform-specific hooks or toe a cross-platform line remains to be seen.

“Most of our server work is done for Windows NT, and it’s not critical to us that server-side code can be portable,” said Jim Flynn, general manager of @Work Technologies, in New York.

A developer at a major Java licensee said, though cross-platform Java holds long-term promise, platform-specific hooks are necessary.

“We’ve basically jumped through hoops not to use Microsoft stuff, but that’s increasingly difficult,” the developer said. “Only if we’re not sure where customers are going to go — NCs, or other platforms, and if they don’t want lockout — then we try to put up a scaffolding where Java is missing stuff and toe the 100-percent Java line long-term.”

JavaSoft cooks up a faster Java

Shipment schedule for performance-enhancing technology:

• July 1997: Java Performance Runtime for Windows, includes the Java Virtual Machine 1.1 and Symantec’s just-in-time compiler
• August 1997: Next developer’s release of the Java Foundation Classes
• August/September 1997: Shipment of HotSpot dynamic compilation technology’s evaluation code to licensees and release of white paper detailing enhanced compilation, garbage collection, and synchronization

• Early 1998: Java virtual machine leveraging HotSpot technologies to ship with Java Development Kit upgrade