Java leads .Net - for now

Customers are more likely to use Java than Microsoft's .Net because it is considered more open. But if Sun Microsystems' language reveals any weaknesses, companies would not hesitate to go with the Redmond giant instead.

This was one of the main conclusions of a Java versus .Net debate at Comdex involving end users and developers of software components.

Kevin Starrett, a lead developer and analyst, said Java's plus point is that it does not require developers to recreate system and logic, such as threading, when developing.

US distribution company Federal Express (FedEx) is a pure Java shop but Starrett said that FedEx would not think twice about dropping Java if it no longer provided any benefits.

"If there is something Java can't do well we would go with Microsoft," he said. "But we would not go this way out of spite. We have to keep an open mind, but at least now we have a choice."

He believes that the announcement of .Net has increased competition for Java, and that customers will benefit from the resulting innovations. The industry remains divided, however, about whether Java should be handed over to a standards body or be given away under an open source model.

Last December, Sun abandoned plans to make the language an industry standard because, according to some analysts, it feared that a standardised version would work very differently from its own offering.

"When Sun first approached a standards body we were very pleased, but when it held back we were very upset," said Steve Richardson, chief technical architect at Vercom, a Java-based software component developer.

But Tom Dwyer, an analyst at researcher the Aberdeen Group, does not believe Sun's decision has harmed Java. "Although many found Sun's decision problematic, the pace of technological improvement to Java has been something they can count on."