“Sun once again is trying to convince us that Java belongs on the desktop. At this week’s SunNetwork conference, we are treated to the delightful wit and wisdom of Scott McNealy poking fun at our industry and making a case for getting rid of the rat’s nest of code called Windows that most of us continue to use,” David Strom writes for Internet Week in his article, “Java On The Desktop: An Idea Whose Time Has Come … And Gone.”

“I have only one piece of advice for Scott: If you really want an alternative to Windows, buy a Mac. It runs Unix just fine, has a great and stable graphical desktop environment that for the most part is Redmond-free, and isn’t infected every 10 minutes when some kid in eastern Europe figures out the latest vulnerability in RPC,” Strom writes.

Strom then goes on to explain why Java on the desktop is a bad idea and peppers his article with sentences such as, “Buy a Mac, Scott. It is affordable, secure and easy to use” and “Just buy a Mac, Scott.”

Strom concludes, “That isn’t to say the Mac is perfect, either. Many times, my Web-based apps just don’t run on my Mac browsers, and typically it is because someone has decided to pick the Windows-only version of Java or Active X that precludes any Mac users. Too bad. Maybe if Scott and Bill could kiss and make up over desktop Java we would have better Mac-based apps. Maybe the two companies can collaborate on a lot more things: after all, with Sun servers and Mac clients, we could get a pretty good thing going here. But that is for another column. No, we are stuck with Windows for the time being, and Microsoft knows it. Java on the desktop is an idea that has come and gone. Stick to servers, Scott, and move front and center to fight that battle. Better yet, buy Apple.”

Full article here.