A clue for the Java crowd, no charge
09 Jul 2003

Sun guy: "Eclipse is the wrong direction."

It amazes me to watch Sun and IBM bickering over Java.  As long as they continue this silliness, .NET's eventual dominance is a foregone conclusion.  Not that I would mind that particular outcome... 

We've all seen company founders get forced out as their company grows.  The founder applied his vision, flexibility and passion to build a company from nothing.  But the company has now outgrown his skillset.  The VCs come in with a capital infusion and they ask the founder to step aside and let the new management take the company to the next level.  The founder reluctantly agrees, realizing that he can take his company no further.

Java is the startup company, Sun is the founder, and IBM is the new management.  If Sun cares about what happens to Java, they should resign and let IBM take it forward.

I'd still be skeptical about whether IBM/Java could effectively compete with Microsoft/.NET in the long haul, but until the Java camp chooses to stop fighting amongst themselves, their cause is utterly hopeless.