Sun says Java is rising
|
|
March 6, 1997: 10:45 p.m. ET
CEO McNealy bets he can get the computer world to replace Windows
|
NEW YORK (CNNfn) -- In any language it's going to be tough.
Last October, Sun Microsystems introduced the world to workstations that use its Java programming language. Sun hopes Java will replace Microsoft's Windows as the standard platform for most computing.
Scott McNealy, chairman and CEO of Sun, knows his company will be bloodied and bruised after taking on Microsoft, but he thinks he can win the fight.
"I think the whole Java momentum is making it easier and cheaper to deal with the Java technology in computers," McNealy said Thursday on CNN's Moneyline with Lou Dobbs. "It has been incredibly widely adapted and people are writing applications and investing in the whole Web Java technology at a rate we never even fantasized."
Still, getting the computer industry to adopt an entirely new language is a monumental task. Even a giant like IBM, with its OS2, failed to take down Microsoft.
But McNealy is convinced customers are ready for a change.
"You don't make money owning English, you make money doing things in English," he said. "We're going to make Java as open as English."
He added that Sun will make money building Java components. All of the company's businesses will share in the success of Java. (229K WAV) or (229K AIFF)
Sun is also making a large investment in the server business. It recently unveiled its powerful Starfire server that it hopes will give the company added muscle.
"The old model was huge server with a dumb terminal. That was the old IBM model. Then you had the fat client with the thin server. That was the Microsoft and Novel model. Now we're moving back to thin client with intelligent terminals hooked up to a very large and scaleable server."
|
|
|
|
JavaSoft Home Page
|
Note: Pages will open in a new browser window
External sites are not endorsed by CNNmoney
|
|
|
|
|
|