🚀 go-pugleaf

In message <5glvgi$1bri$1@news-s01.ny.us.ibm.net> - cwbrenn@ibm.net18 Mar 1997
11:49:38 GMT writes:
:>
:>Could someone give me the run-down on this situation?  Does the fact that Apple is
:>pulling out of OpenDoc mean that everyone  else _has_ to, or simply that it's looking
:>like everyone is _going_ to?
:>
:>OpenDoc has always pissed me off - not because it's lousy, because it isn't.  No, what
:>pissed me off is that no one really understood everything OpenDoc could _do_, and
:>the people running the show didn't bother to explain it very well.  If I'd had the venture
:>capital, I could have found ten programmers and release an OpenDoc 1.1 application
:>that would have been the next killer app, and raked in the money.  That's how powerful
:>it is.  As it is, I'm hoping the technology doesn't whither up and blow away.  If it does, I
:>feel computing will be set back _another_ ten years.
:>
:>Chris Wright (cwbrenn@ibm.net, Team OS/2)
:>

I found the InfoWorld article that was refered to earlier in this thread, it
is more informative than the PC Week article, so here it is:

Source: http://www.infoworld.com/cgi-bin/displayStory.pl?970315.ebeans.htm

 
  IBM and Sun embrace Java Beans,
  give OpenDoc the cold shoulder 

  By Ed Scannell and Tom Quinlan 
  InfoWorld Electric 

  Posted at 5:34 AM PT, Mar 15, 1997 
  IBM and Sun Microsystems have decided to standardize on Java Beans rather
  than OpenDoc as their enterprisewide object model. 

  The move to Java Beans was a natural outgrowth of IBM's increasing focus on
  network-centric computing at the enterprise level, said Scott Hebner,
manager     
  of application development and marketing for IBM's software group. It will
come
  soon after Apple said it was backing off OpenDoc development. (See "Apple
  reorganizes itself as a Next clone.") 

  Hebner said that IBM will announce its Java Beans strategy on April 2, the
  opening of Sun's JavaOne trade show in San Francisco. 

  "OpenDoc was optimized for being an OS-specific type environment," Hebner
  said. "In line with our focus on network computing, our component
architecture 
  is going to be Java Beans, and that is where we are heading with all this." 

  As part of that initiative, IBM and Sun will propose that the Object
Management
  Group (OMG) use Java Beans instead of OpenDoc as its object-container model.
  OpenDoc's future, at least at IBM, will be as a source for adding object- 
  container technology to a number of products, such as VisualAge for C++ and 
  other tools, Hebner said. 

  According to sources familiar with the talks between the two companies, that
  could include incorporating some components from OpenDoc into the Java
  Beans architecture, giving a more robust Java Beans implementation the
  capability to create object-based compound documents. However, Sun and IBM
  have not come to any agreement on how use OpenDoc technology within Java
  Beans. 

  IBM's decision to downplay OpenDoc's strategic importance also calls into
  question Apple's plans to use the technology as well. 

  Both Apple and IBM executives had been talking with Sun about merging the
  two technologies into a tightly integrated offering, referred to variously
as 
  Open Beans or JavaDoc, sources said. However, Sun officials balked at the
idea 
  of using a container technology that would have to be developed for specific
  OSes and could not support network computers relying on only rudimentary
OSes 
  at the client level. 

  "When you look at it from our perspective, the landscape has shifted pretty
  significantly over the last several years," Hebner said. "We had a focus on
  building OS-specific component-based apps to one of building applications
for
  network computing. IBM's strength and focus is on helping our users reap the
  benefits of network computing and electronic business solutions and commerce
--
  Java Beans is ideal for that type of environment." 

  So far, only Oracle and Netscape have committed to supporting a common
object
  architecture alongside Sun and IBM, but the four companies will propose Java
  Beans as the object container model to the OMG, sources said. 

  Although the OMG has not yet been approached, the head of the standards body
  indicated that it wouldn't be a problem to replace OpenDoc with Java Beans. 

  "As far as I am concerned, trading one component architecture for another is
  not a bad thing," said Chris Stone, president and chairman of the OMG. "That
is 
  the way these vendors work." 

  IBM, in Armonk, N.Y., can be reached at (914) 765-1900 or
http://www.ibm.com/.
  Sun Microsystems Inc., in Mountain View, Calif., can be reached at (415) 
  960-1300 or http://www.sun.com/. 


I would expect that if OMG goes for JavaBeans then OpenDoc (as it is now) is
dead.

When I first read the PC Week article I was disturbed, but if they use the
OpenDoc technology to enhance JavaBeans they could get it to be as good as
OpenDoc AND have the advantage of haveing code that can run on any system.

So it shouldn't be that bad, after all JavaBeans is still based off of the
same foundation, CORBA. Of course this will be bad for the small companies
that started OpenDoc development.

JavaBeans will also have the advantage of being promoted by Netscape and Sun,
not just IBM. This will give it a MUCH better chance of succeding over
HacktiveX.

Brooks