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October 21, 1997

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On Dudes and DHTML


On the Web these days, everyone is busy writing techno-social commentaries. Microsoft is no different: "DHTML Dude" debuted this past week with a detailed column from a "dude" (who, in his picture, looks suspiciously conservative for a Microsoft guy) about how DHTML can make really neat-o Web pages. The praise for DHTML is legit -- it's a great cross-platform/cross-browser Web publishing tool -- but the column is just another spin on the Microsoft's strategy: Anything Java can do, another bunch of technologies (together) can do better. Well, dudes, there's no resounding "for sure" in this arena.

While DHTML eliminates the static feel of HTML pages, it does not increase the functionality of Web pages on its own. You can create dynamic pages on the fly, but you can't provide client-side interactivity. Microsoft has two suggestions for this: scripting and COM (Component Object Model). There's nothing wrong with scripting for simple, cross-platform apps, but once you embed a COM object, you've effectively written a Windows application. Moreover, a COM object isn't self-contained the way a Java applet is. Microsoft included glue in IE 4.0 that hooks COM objects straight to the OS -- which is not just platform-specific -- but could be downright dangerous.

Anyone want to place bets on Microsoft's next cast of characters? Sally Scriptlet? Dr. DNA? Coolmeister COM?


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