“Despite Java’s growing popularity, many big businesses just
aren’t ready to use it for their most important applications… For
instance, business software developers still primarily reach for
tried-and-tested tools, such as Microsoft’s Visual Basic, along
with C and C++ for building business applications, according to the
study by Zona Research.
The survey found that 35 percent of programmers use Visual Basic
as their preferred language for writing business software, while 20
percent picked C and C++. Java ranked third with 9 percent in the
third quarter of 1999, up from 5 percent six months ago.”
“The Zona study found that, in the eyes of business
developers, Java still has some significant shortcomings that Sun
will need to address. Topping the list is performance speed,
according to the 150 developers surveyed by Zona. Users have long
complained about how slow Java applications run on the desktop. Sun
plans to ship a faster version of Java for desktop applications in
early 2000.
The other major concern among developers is the
lack of a Java standard managed by an open-standards body. …
Other concerns include: Java’s scalability, or the ability of Java
applications to be expanded to keep pace with business growth, and
migrating applications across all platforms.”