2001, Volume 04, Issue 3
IT MATTERS
The Year of the Gadget
Charla Griffy-Brown, PhD
Java and .NET poised for pervasive computing
By year's end, hand-held devices such as PalmPilots, cell phones, pagers, and digital music/audio players will talk with each other over Personal Area Networks (PANs). Each individual PAN user will be the hub of a wireless network that enables devices to share data and applications. Laptops will connect to the Internet through mobile phones. Mobile phones will pull numbers from hand-held devices. PAN users will connect with nearby PAN users.
Personal Area Networks will carry us into what is being called the Pervasive Computing Era. Digital signals will surround us. Much of the traffic is expected to flow in the 2.4gHz frequency range and PANs will extend some ten meters around individual users. New E-business models will emerge as consumers discover new ways of computing on the go. Technology firms are already anticipating a range of new hardware and software needs.
Microsoft is working to maintain its leadership position as the market moves from PCs to hand-held platforms. The software giant has introduced new mobile hardware prototypes including a computer that recognizes a user's voice, and a cell phone that takes dictation.
Microsoft has already rolled out an operating system, Windows CE, for hand-held devices and, later this year, the firm will launch its new .NET Technology, which is designed to bring the company's Office applications closer to the Internet. Users will be able to save documents as XML files for delivery to hand-held and tablet devices.
Microsoft has made sample code and documentation available through its web site so that Independent developers will find it easier to integrate the .NET technology into custom Web applications.
.NET technology puts Microsoft up against Sun Microsystems whose Java 2 Enterprise Environment (J2EE) language is currently the popular choice among independent application developers. Adding insult to injury, Microsoft plans to eliminate support for Java in the new XP operating system due this fall so that PC users will have to download a plug-in to use Java applets.
Despite the best efforts of Microsoft, Java may still thrive in the era of PANS since it is being loaded on most PDAs and mobile phones, and since many organizations have already integrated Java into their custom applications. And Sun continues to shower Java developers with free programming tools, source code, and online support.
Many analysts expect the stalemate between Microsoft and Java to continue well into the Pervasive Computing Era. Despite the lively competition between these two technologies, J2EE and .NET are surprisingly similar in many ways. A very accessible comparison by Jim Farley appeared last March in Software Developer Online.
Farley notes that J2EE could be described as a single-language, multiple-platform solution, while .NET is more of a multiple-language, single-platform solution. If you want the option of developing for Unix or other non-Windows servers, and can do so primarily in Java - J2EE seems a natural choice. On the other hand, if you are developing primarily for a Windows environment and want to support multiple languages, .NET technology seems logical.
Of course, logic can be a luxury in technology planning. Many organizations have already headed in one direction or the other, but the good news is that both roads appear to lead well into the Pervasive Computing Era.
Goin' Mobile!
These projections from Myers Reports show that mobile computing is expected to drive a continued rise in wireless phone subscriptions and individual wireless phone usage.
Source: Myers Reports, 2001
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