Who is winning the race - Java or .NET? And why? | Talk it up | Forums

Ramesh Kumar said:

Not just that my friend Locutus!   I understand that:-

1. All new shipments of Vista & Win7 come pre-installed with .NET 
2. The logical inference is that Vista is the last OS wherein part of the userbase has .NET & part of userbase does not have .NET. Could you confirm if I am right about this?

Since Win7 & Vista also allow "ratcheting down compatibility" to Xp I infer ratcheting down means choosing to use non-.NET runtime. Am I right?

Does it mean that Win7 offers a choice of 2 runtimes – .NET & non-.NET aka if one wishes one can remove .NET from Win7 & choose to have only non-.NET runtime? Kindly let me know.

Ramesh

 

Why did I say this?  

If Win7 & Vista allow what I am saying then Vista users & Win7 users can have their cake & eat it too aka they can enjoy the faster speed, better gui etc of the later OS and at the same time enjoy the benefit of enjoying more apps which Xp offers (especially Xp 32 bit)

Ramesh

sean said:

I believe that microsoft is scaling down it's links to legacy programs. however,  they can never fully turn their backs on it. hell, people still use windows 95 one and a half decades later.

 

But while they can't turn their back on it doesn't mean they can't try to ignore it. the current Windows 7 release comes with the option to download a virtual machine of XP, which I would assume runs faster than the real thing. and, I think, has .net functionality.

 

I don't see microsoft getting rid of their revered .net framework. I think that they may scale it down, or consolidate some of the languages but it will be there.

 

As for Java, I see it growing larger. It is a very useful thing, and compatable over so many OS's, that it will become a language of choice, or at least the common choice, as HTML and PHP are for web pages.

Hi Sean!

So what emerges from your reply is:-

1. Even if a Win7 user ratchets all the way down to Xp it is only in -
   1. Virtual form & not physical form via a new partition.
   2. It still uses .NET runtime environment aka there is no "non-.Net runtime environment" being offered as a choice. Or is there? Sean if there is no choice of runtime being offered then how is Microsoft keeping in touch with the legacy option you refer to?
   3. How does ratcheting down to Xp help the user run more apps as compared to if he/she did not ratchet down? I ask this only because if runtime only emains .NET how does it help matters?
2. I share your thought on the number of .NET languages. Yes it is logically correct to infer that no. of generic languages aka source code languages will come down. In a different thread a doyen dottechie – Samuel had said that most of .NET is still written in C or C++ simply because it most closely resembles the Assembly Language. Check in main blog search filter……it is one of 3 posts in programming
3. Like you I intuit Java becoming bigger. Why? The number of "non-computer computing devices" (phones, refrigerators, household appliances etc) vastly exceeds "computer computing devices" (laptops, desktops, palmtops). Already Java has a larger usage across absolute number of computing devices because of this!
4. Furthermore .NET came up much after mobile phones had already made substantial investment in proprietory software e.g. Motorola phones have their own software, Nokia while slightly more open minded uses non-Windows platforms. Windows mkt share in phones is still a lousy single digit market share percentage
5. Java has one more advantage. It is buddy buddy with Linux OS as well. So in China where Linux is a huge OS, (I am not sure; I think Linux there is bigger than Windows. It is bigger than Windows at least in mobile phones for sure; of the latter I am certain) Java has the advantage 
6. Since phones & refrigerators grow at a numerically faster rate than computers I feel Java has the overall advantage
7. The Java-Linux partnership also gives Java an advantage in the office segment because Linux has a 90% mkt share in the office segment. Microsoft 90% mkt share is mainly in the home segment. At the office it is a lousy 1%. Linux is the exact opposite. Funny huh?

But then Microsoft is no fool. In a rare combo of humility & smartness Microsoft has partnered its .NET initiative not with its own Windows Server OS but with Novelle Server OS!

No wonder Microsoft gave the world its wealthiest human being at one time.

All things considered I'd say the odds favour Java. There is only one fly in the ointment – Java has been bought over by Oracle! Would this help or screw Java……..I don't know. Handled right it could help Java since Oracle is a great relational database software. Handled wrong it can screw the hell out of Java simply because Oracle is >>>>>>>>>>>>>costlier than SQL

If the new Java (aka Oracle) owner makes the mistake of continuing with premium pricing like he does for Oracle it would hurt Java. In which case Microsoft would once again go laughing all the way to the bank.

A lot depends upon the pricing strategy Java would adopt, under its new owners

Let us see what happens!

Ramesh

Pwnana said:

 

I don't know who could be the "winner" as they compete in several arenas.  In terms of hardware, Java is, has, and probably always will be victorious.  That was what Java was designed for, and as you said it supports far more devices than .NET.  In terms of Windows, its pretty close.  Not many average user apps run on Java, but then again not many run on .NET either.  On any other OS Java wins, since of course .NET is Windows only.  In terms of internet, Java is the clear victor, as a large majority of Web 2.0 runs on Java.  So if you can count the winner on a point system, then with a 2 for 3:

 

 

public class JavaIsTheWinner {

public static void main(String[] args) {

boolean javaWins = true;

if (javaWins == true)

System.out.println("Java is the victor!");

else

{

System.out.println("Impossible, Java is always the winner.");

System.exit(0);

}

}

}

Sun has always been an awesome company.  VirtualBox, MySQL, Open Office, all for free.  I sure hope Oracle keeps this up…

 

Awesome post Pwnana, Awesome!

Another start to a great new day!

Ramesh