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By Anna Russell, 29 June 1998 14:31

COMMENT There can't be a single IT professional on the face of the planet who could honestly put hand on heart and swear: "I have never complained about Microsoft or its products." We're all guilty of moaning about the stranglehold that Microsoft has on our systems. And we all stand accused of doing very little about it. The pattern we have fallen into is one of complaint rather than action. Familiarity breeds contempt. It also breeds a degree of laziness. Choice has been limited for such a long time that we've forgotten it's possible. Remember the magic words, "open systems"? It's hard to say them these days without sounding ironic. Since its birth, Java has been christened as the saviour of open systems and the first real alternative to a Microsoft-tinted world. But to date, all we've done is talked, and then talked some more about Java. Serious development of Java-based business applications has been thin on the ground. Unfortunately, it's in danger of becoming an industry joke - Sun's mantra, "write once, run anywhere" has become "write once, run very slowly anywhere". While a large dose of scepticism is always healthy, it would be a shame to see a technology which offers a genuine alternative to become a victim of apathy and cynicism. Sure, Java is still is young and has teething problems, but that's all the more reason to support it. The possible benefits to business outweigh the risks. It offers a real solution for rapid application development and creates an open, flexible foundation for future development. Businesses that build Java-based systems today will possess an environment which allows them to take advantage of and respond rapidly to the wired world in the future. Someone has to make the first move. Sun can pump all the money and resources it likes into promoting Java but will not get very far until the major systems integrators embrace the technology. And systems integrators won't invest in Java until users tell them loudly and clearly to develop the knowledge and skills for building Java-based systems. In fact, most integrators aren't against using Java, they're just not being urged to endorse it. The trouble is that as users, we've got too accustomed to passively accepting delivery of systems that are Microsoft solutions from top to bottom. We've become resigned to having Microsoft products everywhere and the attitude is one of "better the devil you know". Of course, Java may not always be the right answer for everyone's requirements, but that's not the point. The issue is one of choice. And that's something that the IT industry has deprived us of for far too long. Now that we have more control over our destinies and the ability to dictate rather than be dictated to, it would be a great pity to let cynicism and apathy get in the way of progress.