“Microsoft is finally getting out of the Java business. And
that’s good news. Really. For Microsoft, for Sun Microsystems and
most of all for corporate IT shops. According to Microsoft’s
product road maps, its Visual J++ development tool isn’t being
upgraded with new versions of Java. And around the time the next
major version of Visual J++ is due out — best guess now is spring
of next year — Microsoft’s lawsuit-plagued Java license from Sun
will expire.”
“…reports from Microsoft’s VBITS conference earlier this month
make it clear that Visual Basic, Visual C++ and other tools will be
aggressively beefed up over the next year to meet the needs of
e-commerce developers. And Microsoft’s version of Java won’t.”
“Linux, Unix, handhelds and the resurgent Macintosh are
eating away at Microsoft’s Windows base on both the front and back
ends. Losing one more competitive feature could be expensive in the
long run. But for Microsoft, keeping Java is expensive
now.”