Nathan Meyers wrote:
> On Tue, Jan 01, 2002 at 05:21:33PM +0000, jordan muscott wrote:
>
>>I've just noticed bug 4498974 on the Sun website. Im totally shocked about
>>this. It was my understanding (please correct me if i am wrong), that the
>>promised increase in performance with Swing was based around the use of
>>VolatileImage. Personally, i am interested in using Java for game
>>developement so i find this very disappointiong.
>>
>>It seems to me that Sun have spent the last year or so working on a solution
>>that will only be of any benefit whatsoever to people using the operating
>>system of a company who would like to wipe Sun and Java off the planet. I
>>really can't believe this. Can anyone offer me any hope?
>>
>
> You want someone here to make sense of Sun's Microsoft strategy?
> OK... Sun's Microsoft strategy is to shoot itself in the foot at every
> available opportunity.
>
> VolatileImage is a client-side technology, and Sun is trying to regain
> the client-side foothold it lost by "winning" its lawsuit against
> Microsoft. In the battle for the desktop, winning Windows developers
> with faster graphics is way more important than spending the time fixing
> VolatileImage on Linux and Solaris. If it helps create demand for getting
> a bundled (modern) JDK back into Windows, it will be a brilliant victory.
>
> The most likely path to a fix is for someone in the Blackdown realm to
> take on this nasty job and submit the fix back to Sun. This might not
> be too bad a problem with the SDL (Simple DirectMedia Layer) libraries -
> but it'll need to be taken on by some adventurous soul who's signed the
> appropriate Sun licenses.
>
> Nathan
>
Nathan,
Sun lost the client-side battle years ago, perhaps primarily due to the
fact that Swing was not performance-competitive w/ native Windows apps.
And also probably due to the fact that the typical Java app doesn't
integrate as tightly with Windows as Windows users are accustomed to.
Microsoft's decision to no longer bundle an antiquated JVM doesn't
really hinder Java as much as it's been made out to. And while Swing
apps today are good enough, it's only because the typical machine we're
dealing with is a 500 MHz box w/ 256 MB RAM.
As you pointed out, the reason Windows matters is it is 90% of the
desktop market. Theoretically Sun generates zero direct profit on Java
(the public line is that Java is part of a strategy for selling
servers), and almost definitely zero direct revenues for development of
client-side technologies for Java. So while they allocate limited
resources to develop some important client-side technologies, what does
it really matter in the marketplace?
How many Java applications are in the market? How many of them are not
geared towards Java developers? I'm sure counter examples could be
offered, but the only mass-market Java app out there that I know of is
LimeWire.
The reality is that as small a market Java client apps currently are,
the market for high-performance Java graphics such as necessary for
fast-paced games is miniscule in comparison.
:ml
>
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