Java Dead? Three articles…

At ZDNet, there is an opinion piece must read titled Tempest in a Teapot. A brutal indictment of Java on the desktop.

In this NetworkWorldFusion article some of Java’s biggest names question it’s chances for survival, including a Boland survey of corporate bigwigs. Check out the related JavaLobby thread.

At TheServerSide you’ll find a flawed, but good read – J2EE to Oblivion?. Pay particular attention to the message board. via rebelutionary

Java is getting squeezed on two fronts. One, it’s never put forth a succesful desktop platform. Don’t talk to me about applets. They are cool. But that’s about it. And Swing is too hard for the Windows VB and Delphi influenced world. And too damn slow. Why no desktop compiler that optimizes performance for the platform? That won’t damage write once run anywhere. Idealism be damned. Why no VB like IDE? Now there *is* progress on that front, but maybe it’s too late. Two, you now have .NET attacking Java where it has found a huge degree of adoptance, server side apps, and it will surely be simpler and easier to use. J2EE is extrememly powerful, but complex.

No, I don’t think Java is dying. Far from it. But I hope to see some real progress made on those these fronts in the future. I really think the Java platform is becoming bloated, the focus has been to encompass as many functionalities in it’s APIs as possible, and if the focus would shift to the big fundamentals – ease of development, ease of deployment, and speed (on the desktop – server side apps are just fine thank you), well Java would be really kick ass and it’s future secure.

Big step forward in Apache/Sun Agreement

Sun and Apache are now officially engaged

Apache has signed a newly formed (and much improved) TCK License covering all the JSRs on which it’s active, allowing Apache to continue participating in the JCP. This new TCK License is becoming the Sun boilerplate and promises to bring benefits to all JSR licensees, both commercial and open source, by allowing true legitimate independent implementations of Java technology for the first time.

via rebelutionary

Edison’s Failing Grade

Investors and school districts are ditching the country’s leading public education privatizer

Edison’s improper bookkeeping practices may come back to haunt the company, as was the case with Enron. But there’s more to the Edison story than an accounting scandal. Edison was built on the premise that a private company could run public schools more effectively and efficiently than local government could. Judging from the company’s recent track record, that premise may soon be proven false.

Bruce Fuller, a professor of education and public policy at UC Berkeley who has researched charter schools and is familiar with Edison’s history, says that Edison’s stock performance isn’t unconnected to the company’s classroom record. “I think the softness of the stock price is related to the softness of their test scores and educational results,” he says. “Another way of looking at it is, if they were doing better on the ground and getting more contracts, they wouldn’t have to obfuscate their numbers. Even markets have rules — and [Edison’s] evidence is so mixed that it’s starting to affect their standing with investors.”

…At least ten class action lawsuits have since been filed against the company, one of them by Milberg Weiss, the firm handling a major stockholder suit against Enron. All charge that the company misled investors. Yet amidst this turmoil, the former golden child of for-profit education is planning its biggest project to date: next fall’s takeover of 20 low-performing schools in Philadelphia.