Spring Comdex: McNealy says
Java cuts admin costs

Chicago — Corporations can cut the cost of computer ownership by dumping heavy client software such as Windows in favor of smaller Java-based software, Scott McNealy, president, CEO, and chairman of Sun Microsystems Inc., said in a keynote address here today at Spring Comdex.

“The best way to upgrade a PC is to downgrade it … take out the CD-ROM and Windows,” load in Java and download applications from the network, he said. “Basically, what the Java Virtual Machine is Microsoft At Work done right or NEST [Novell’s NetWare Embedded Software Technology] with chance.”

Java will be ubiquitous, partly because it is published for free and easily distributable, and partly because all of the major systems vendors are licensing the Java OS, according to McNealy. “This means the Java Virtual Machine will have a hundred million seats within the next 18 to 24 months,” he said.

The object-oriented programming language, developed by Sun, will solve the headache of PC and network administration, as well as application and platform interoperability, he added.

For all of these reasons, McNealy urged attendees to write their front-end software and rewrite legacy applications in Java, as well as test-run applications on at least three browser platforms. He cautioned developers about Microsoft Corp.’s “Twinkie-baited, barbed” proprietary hook of ActiveX where “once you’ve written to ActiveX it only runs on a Microsoft client.”

During a question-and-answer session following the keynote, McNealy flashed a bread-box shaped prototype network computer he said Sun is developing that contains no local storage, keyboard, or monitor. The Sun device is expected to be formally unveiled in September.

McNealy’s keynote, which was long on wit and short on substance, was generally well received. He made heavy use of one-liners, particularly to take jabs at Microsoft, and opened his talk with a Top 10 List of reasons people will keep their PC (see below).

“What a flaw in his talk,” one exiting woman said. “Without a PC, how are people going to use Java?”

“I guess it’s okay to be advertising Java since he’s giving it away,” another woman said.

One systems administrator said she wasn’t impressed with the Java demos, but enjoyed the humor and agreed with McNealy’s message that thin clients and network-based software will ease administration in enterprises in the future.

“He’s right on target,” said Diane Steiner, manager of technical support at AT&T’s office in Berkeley Heights, NJ, where she oversees more than 1,000 users.

“I manage a network support group and I know how much time we invest in client-to-administrator ratio,” she said. “We’re at one [administrator] to 50 [users] now and we need to expand that … to one to 100 or one to 150 to get to the point where people start using the applications instead of just solving problems.”

Scott McNealy’s “Top 10 Reasons Why People Will Keep Their PCs”:

10. It’s the only way to see the Bettmann archives.

9. It’s the only CD player allowed in your office.

8. It makes a good step-aerobics platform.

7. We want to add pictures and music to our spreadsheets.

6. It’s a great 167-MHz space heater.

5. It trains you for moonlighting as a systems administrator.

4. Because it says Intel inside and outside.

3. Charities won’t take them.

2. You can use reboot time for bio breaks.

1. We love the white noise — it helps us think!