

Ask HN: Time for MS to Move in on Java? - sausagefeet

Given what has been going on with Oracle and Java, is there any indication that this would be a good time for MS to throw their weight behind Mono or to create their own cross-platform implementation of .Net?  Or, is it still more valuable for them to keep people on the MS stack?
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kls
There is so much distrust for Microsoft, that I think even if they did throw
their weight behind Mono they would get very little mind share. I think that
the Java replacement will come out of the open source movement. I do not know
who it will be or even if it is existing as of yet, but I think that Java will
serve as an example to people when selecting the next big language.

There are a lot of interesting languages, unfortunately some of them require
the JVM to operate, which binds them to the same restrictions as Java. There
are the scripting languages such as Python and node.JS, which while
interesting, have a tough road to battle for mind share due to the fact that
they are scripting languages. I personally have no issue with scripting
languages, but others do and so it will serve as a scarlet letter for those
languages being the one.

There are others like Google's go that are open source and available. I do not
know if a language such as go will become a dominant language in the
foreseeable future, but do believe that it will be a language with similar
licensing options and similar freedoms due to what has happened in the Java
market.

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sausagefeet
I don't think I agree that the next Java will come out of OSS community. I
think the reason Java has become what it is has to do with the safety (no
matter how illusionary that safety is) of a big company behind it.

~~~
kls
Java became what it is today, because of the Microsoft monopoly, people where
looking for any alternative platform to develop on, that did not have
Microsoft lock-in.

The problem was that you still needed to deliver on Microsoft platforms to get
any user base. Java offered a viable solution to that problem at the time
because one could develop an application for the UNIX market while still
keeping a foot in the Windows market, should the landscape shift.

With more and more server products moving the Microsoft, Java was a way to
hedge staying on an alternative platform while still having a quick transition
strategy to Microsoft should be required. Those market realities do not exist
today and as always developer mind share is key to a language success, I would
argue that it's the only key to a language of success.

It has been proven time and time again where the developers go the market
follows. All languages that have gained popularity since Java have been open
source languages with the exception of Objective-C and the .net languages. The
two most dominant web languages PHP and Python are both open source language.

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rbanffy
It will always be more valuable for them to keep people locked-in to a stack
they alone control. That does not preclude them from taking a position on the
FUD Oracle and Apache are generating in the Java space.

Microsoft dominance is caused by 25% evil, 5% good product and 70% competitor
stupidity.

