Re: cross-platform programs

Hi Jon,

> The differences are that:
> a) Sun *do* licence the Java spec to other companies (eg IBM)
> b) Sun offer their JRE on multiple platforms already.

Well, Sun has had a good head start in that department. My experience with
Microsoft indicates to me that when Microsoft decides to compete, they do so
with a vengeance. I'm sure that you, like me, have had a good peek at what
Microsoft is working on for the near and far future. There are major
improvements in the .Net platform 2.0 compared with the 1.1 platform, which
was an incredible start. I've ben betting on Microsoft for over a decade
now. So far they haven't let me down. ;-)

> The legal situation of running a JRE on Linux and Windows is a *lot*
> rosier than the legal situation of running Mono on Linux and .NET on
> Windows. There's also the technical aspect of things (the JRE has the
> same codebase for both platforms, which certainly can't be said of Mono
> and .NET.)

You seem to forget the recent debacle over the Microsoft JRE for Windows,
which resulted in a catastrophic absense of support for Java on Windows XP,
for most end-users. Again, I think that the legal issues will straighten
themselves out over time, and Sun has had a significant head start with
Java.

Ultimately, I don't want anyone to "win." I want everyone to win. Absolute
power corrupts absolutely, but competition is good for everybody. Let's hope
that the balance of power is maintained!

>. Pity - I prefer C# to Java on the whole...

Same here. But I'm hopeful. As long as we keep participating in the process,
I think it will improve.

--
HTH,

Kevin Spencer
Microsoft MVP
..Net Developer
Ambiguity has a certain quality to it.


"Jon Skeet [C# MVP]" <skeet@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:MPG.1dba3744c08ace7098c901@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Kevin Spencer <kevin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> <snip>
>
>> > The same is *not* to of MS, as far as I can tell. Yes, there's the Mono
>> > project, but there's been no guarantee (as far as I've seen) that MS
>> > won't sue companies who distribute Mono as part of their solution,
>> > based on intellectual property infringements.
>>
>> I doubt that the Mono project is working without Microsoft's knowledge
>> and
>> consent.
>
> MS certainly knows about Mono. As for consent? Well, they may have an
> admiration for the team, I don't know - but they *haven't* stated that
> they've checked for IP violations in there.
>
>> However, it would appear that Microsoft doesn't want anyone
>> indiscriminately to write a .Netimplementation for any OS. I doubt that
>> Sun
>> does either. It wouldn't be logical to do so.
>
> The differences are that:
> a) Sun *do* licence the Java spec to other companies (eg IBM)
> b) Sun offer their JRE on multiple platforms already.
>
>
> The legal situation of running a JRE on Linux and Windows is a *lot*
> rosier than the legal situation of running Mono on Linux and .NET on
> Windows. There's also the technical aspect of things (the JRE has the
> same codebase for both platforms, which certainly can't be said of Mono
> and .NET.)
>
> To my mind it's *currently* a no-brainer decision between .NET/Mono and
> Java when it comes to cross-platform software for an ISV to develop. MS
> could fix that fairly easily, but at the moment they're choosing not to
> do so. Pity - I prefer C# to Java on the whole...
>
> --
> Jon Skeet - <skeet@xxxxxxxxx>
> http://www.pobox.com/~skeet Blog: http://www.msmvps.com/jon.skeet
> If replying to the group, please do not mail me too


.

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