Thursday June 24, 2004 Why 'Java Desktop System' Is A Great Name
One of the questions I am frequently asked is why the Java Desktop System is so named. After all, very little of it is written in the Java Language. The answer I always give is that the name reflects its intended use, not its heritage (I get plenty of sneers to that right now - that will change). The direction over time is going to be to make JDS the perfect place for the corporate developer to deploy Java client software, whether that's as free-standing applications, applications dynamically loaded by Java WebStart (which is a brilliant tool by the way) or applets delivered by Java Plugin. Hence the name - it's called Java Desktop System because it's a Desktop System designed for Java programs.
Consequently, I'm delighted to see that vision come a few steps closer with the release of the JDesktop Network Components (JDNC), which join the JDesktop Integration Components (JDIC) in helping programmers create rich client software. JDNC lets you build a high-function GUI with data bindings just by creating an XML description of the application. That description can then be deployed in any of the three ways I mentioned (static installed, dynamic installed or browser delivered) depending on your infrastructure and requirements. JDIC offers Java programmers the ability to write system utilities like screen-savers and tray icons that will work on multiple platforms.
What particularly strikes me is that the vision of rich client software does not imply that you have to have a heavyweight client desktop. People are too quick to assume that creating client-side function immediately implies the use of a highly stateful system on the desktop. Creating client applications with JDNC leaves the options open for what sort of desktop systems you give people, leaving you free to create powerful rich-client software and to control costs using thin client desktop systems without losing the ability to give power-users more costly heavy client desktop systems where necessary. Before long, JDS will be available as both thin and heavy clients.
This was my true vision of the Java platform back in 1995 (at IBM!) - to be able to write applications without having to decide in advance how they would be delivered to their users. This still seems the key step in releasing companies from desktop slavery. JDNC brings it a little closer. And it's LGPL.
Posted by webmink
( Jun 24 2004, 02:59:34 PM PDT )
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