[clug] Why isn't Java popular on the Linux Desktop? [SEC=PERSONAL]

[Bob Edwards]

steve jenkin wrote:
> Bob Edwards wrote on 15/7/09 2:48 PM:
> 
>> Apparently, Google Wave is written in Java, both client (desktop)
>> and server ends. Don't know if that is particularly relevant to
>> this discussion, though.
> 
> Stating the Bleeding Obvious, the original promise of JAVA was:
> 
> "Write once, run anywhere".
> 
> That's perfect for something like Google Wave to leverage.
> As for the server side too - one language & toolkit/class-library (?) -
> good for the coding team.
> 
> Seems strange that it wasn't the Google standard, Python, on the server.
> 
> Being Google, you'd expect them to have worked out Performance and
> Scaling issues. Or not...  It'll put to bed claims that Java is heavy on
> server-side resources if they make it work.
> 

In this case, I don't think that scaling is such an important issue as
Wave is designed, from the start, to be a federated service, unlike
GMail etc. which relies on the monolithic Google server farm(s).

My understanding (from a recent conversation with Andrew McRae, as I
understand it, the lead engineer on the Wave backend) is that using
Java for both client and server buys them some cool tech that I have
now forgotten the name of that Sun developed alongside Java some time
ago.

Sorry about the vagueness of this. I'm still investigating Wave.

Cheers,

Bob Edwards.

> 
>> I completely agree with Hugh's synopsis of the situation with
>> respect to the different environments/features that each O/S
>> brings to the desktop and the challenge for a language like
>> Java to seemlessly integrate these features across all platforms.
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> Bob Edwards.
> 
>