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Perking Up Java (3/11/98)
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The other big news of the day seems to be Apple's announcement that they will partner with Microsoft to create a new, unified Java virtual machine for the Mac. That news itself isn't surprising, since "collaboration on Java" was one of the key points of the Apple-Microsoft agreement that surfaced last August; today's announcement, however, marks the first concrete action in carrying out that plan. Apple will include some Microsoft Java technologies in its next release of the Mac OS Runtime for Java (MRJ), at which point Internet Explorer for the Mac will use the MRJ as its Java Virtual Machine.
If you're wondering what Mac users get from all this, you've obviously never run a Java applet in Netscape next to the same applet in Internet Explorer. Whether or not Microsoft is trying to sink Java, their virtual machine has traditionally been one of the fastest available on the Mac. This partnership may well go a long way towards making the Mac a viable Java platform-- or even towards reaching Apple's stated goal of making the Mac the best Java platform available. (That's a long stretch, given how lackluster Mac Java has been in the past, but this just might be the turning point.)
Of course, we all have to wonder what Sun thinks about all this. At a time when they face Microsoft's continued attempts to "taint" Java with Windows-only extensions, they're probably none too pleased about Apple apparently siding with Microsoft on this issue-- the Microsoft influence on Apple's JVM will include some Microsoft-only extensions. Suppose Sun's wishing they bought out Apple when they had the chance?
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SceneLink (526)
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And Now For A Word From Our Sponsors |
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 | | The above scene was taken from the 3/11/98 episode: March 11, 1998: Apple keeps biting back, as the Intel bunnymen consider switching from lamé to asbestos. Meanwhile, Apple joins the Dark Side in the battle for the soul of Java, and CompUSA formally announces the grand opening of the Apple store within a store all across the nation this weekend...
Other scenes from that episode: 525: Think Bunnies (3/11/98) Without question, the biggest buzz of the evening is Apple's new "Think Different" TV commercial, which is appropriately titled "Bunnies." If you weren't tuned in to ABC tonight, you missed a 30-second product ad that, amazingly, appears to be even more popular than the snail ad (at least if early feedback from AtAT viewers is any indication)... 527: Plans for the Weekend (3/11/98) Rumors from multiple sources have proven true; today, CompUSA announced that this weekend will mark the official grand opening of the Apple "store within a store" in each of its 149 nationwide locations...
Or view the entire episode as originally broadcast... | |  |
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