January 15, 1998 |
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Educating the Media |
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It is very disturbing to read industry press that uses articles written 6 to 18 months ago as support for negative statements about Java. Peter Shikli does just this in his article Java, A Balanced Perspective. It appears that some computer industry writers either misunderstand Java's versatility or choose to ignore significant progress in the areas of security and performance.
Here are a couple examples of Shikli's statements:
"So even though Java pushes the envelope with just-in-time compilers and virtual machines, it produces applets because it is too slow to produce applications."
First question we ask is: too slow for what? One reason people are writing applets is that they can be downloaded dynamically from servers, saving costly and timely client installation.
"...why take the chance of your Java/ActiveX applet being on the list of suspects when a customer's computer goes on the fritz?"
By lumping Java, with its built-in bytecode and verification security model, in with ActiveX, a completely insecure architecture, Mr. Shikli implies some base level of comparability in their security models, which is, of course, misleading.
If we are to criticize Java, let's do it with current and accurate information and look for ways to improve the problems. FUD is bad enough, but aged FUD is even worse. There are plenty of resources just a phone call or e-mail away for answering questions about Java's status.
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