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

[Hugh Fisher]

Francis James Whittle wrote:
> I don't, however, see how re-writing the whole office suite in three
> different toolkits across multiple platforms with a completely different
> file format and extension structure is any less a waste of already scare
> resources than rewriting it for the same in Java where most of the hard
> work was already done or being done unless they thought Java wasn't up
> to the task.

First and foremost is the classic open source advantage that
it's *your* cross platform code. So if it doesn't work, or
doesn't do what you want, you can fix it yourself. Remember
that Java hasn't been open source for very long.

And yes the Java standard packages such as AWT and Swing
weren't very good. Sun have always been a hardware & network
engineering company. When it comes to end-user stuff like
GUIs and graphics, somehow they just Don't Get It. Writing
everything yourself is not a waste of resources when the
third party alternative is inferior.

A further annoyance is the Java Native Interface for calling
platform native C code, which seemed to be expressly designed
to discourage you from doing so. (Microsoft evidently took
notes because in C# it's much easier.)

	cheers,
	Hugh