he rhetoric coming from Microsoft executives these past few weeks makes it fairly easy to deduce the company's latest strategy for dealing with Java. With Microsoft's technology to counter
network computers still at least six months away, the company is using the oldest product placeholder in the business: fear, uncertainty, and doubt-also known as the FUD factor.
FUD is an amazing weapon. When properly used, it can kill the momentum of the hottest product or trend, put corporate technology-buying strategies into vapor lock, and fog the minds of even the best technology managers.
Microsoft certainly is spreading it thick and heavy. First, Bill Gates commented that Java was a "lowest common denominator" technology. Microsoft VP Steve Ballmer then derided NCs as "incompatible" and as a return to the horrors of Unix system administration. In place of Java and NCs, Ballmer offered Microsoft's Zero Administration technology, network PCs, and Windows Terminals-all initiatives that center on the availability of Windows NT 5.0.
Of course, NT 5.0 won't ship until next year. So while the demo-ware shown off by Ballmer at the recent PC Expo in New York was enticing, it's far from being mark
et-ready. That's why Ballmer relied heavily on the FUD factor. He wants to keep IT organizations from committing to NCs before Microsoft's answer is available.
Microsoft's rhetoric is easily set aside. Java a "lowest common denominator" technology? Perhaps, but at least it's common-and available now to developers. And if it's the "lowest," then why is Microsoft integrating Java with its operating systems? NCs "incompatible?" This statement seems a bit hypocritical coming from a company that time after time has shipped patches to its operating system with its own applications. Incompatibility between NCs is in storage and administrative features, not in applications.
Beyond this, there's a certain amount of genuine uncertainty and doubt about Microsoft's own plans. Microsoft claims it can help companies avoid upgrading older PCs through Hydra, the NT 5.0 technology that makes Windows Terminals possible. But will the cost of the server hardware and software required to support Hydra cancel out these sav
ings? For instance, Windows Terminals will require lots of server storage, which is much more expensive per megabyte than client storage.
Microsoft isn't the only purveyor of FUD-just the most blatant. Intel, for example, is being much more subtle in its obfuscation of NCs and network PCs. Even the NC vendors aren't exactly making it easy to find a way through the fog. So watch your step, and look out for falling expectations.
Back to Labs
Send Us Your Feedback
Top of the Page
he rhetoric coming from Microsoft executives these past few weeks makes it fairly easy to deduce the company's latest strategy for dealing with Java. With Microsoft's technology to counter
network computers still at least six months away, the company is using the oldest product placeholder in the business: fear, uncertainty, and doubt-also known as the FUD factor.
