I have seen the future of the Web...

[Marc Salomon]

Let's see if this makes it on the list...I've had address conflicts recently,
so cc: tennant.

Some thorny issues still remain with java:

1.  security.  Downloading code is fraught with danger and some people who know
more about these issues than I are still skeptical.

2.  files.  you cannot open files in java.  this could be a problem.

3.  encumberances.  java is free for not-for-profit, but if you sell a java
app, you owe sun $$$.  there are no guarantees that java will be free for
not-for-profits, and sun can at any time tighten the encumberences.

Java has some great things going for it and will be a very useful tool for some
problems, but there are other languages that will work well too.  My toolkit at
home has hammers, screwdrivers, power tools, plumbing tools, etc.  Proper tool
for each job.  Anyone who says java (or anything other software tool esp from
.com) is the be-all and end-all of anything needs to step back and contrmplate
the question a bit more thoroughly.

-marc

-- 
Marc Salomon