View source for The Year of the Net Wars

By [[Roger Sessions]]

You didn't watch  the Super bowl. You slept through  the Olympics. You forgot about the presidential debates. But there is one melee nobody could have missed.
1996 was the year of the Net Wars.

To be sure, this  war isn't settled and probably won't be for at least another  year. However, the opening
skirmishes were mean, and  the first victims have already fallen.

As usual, we have Microsoft on one side. As usual, we have most of the rest of the world on the other. As usual, IBM is not entirely sure what the game is about, but they heard it's going to be fun and don't want to be left out.

It's tempting to dismiss  the  Net Wars as a Microsoft ploy to take over the world, but the truth is more com plex. This war is really one of two competing visions of what the Inter net is all about. Both visions are com pelling. Both have serious weaknesses.

The Microsoft opposition is led by Netscape and SunSoft. Netscape pro duces  the highly successful Web browser, Netscape Navigator. SunSoft produces Java, a new programming language that has taken at least the book publishing industry by unprece dented storm.

In the Microsoft vision, the Net is a logical extension of the operating system. Because everybody will be using the  same  operating system  (guess which), the  rest of the issues are unimportant. A Web browser is a relatively uninteresting  application,  one of many used to find documents and start up programs that live someplace on the Net.

In the Netscape/SunSoft vision, the operating system is merely a support mechanism for  the  Web  browser.

Since everyone will be using the same Web browser (guess which), the under lying operating system really doesn't matter. Programs will be written especially for the Web browser and will therefore run  on  any  machine on which the Web browser runs.

IBM's  strategy is  simple: The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Therefore, whatever Netscape and SunSoft decide is fine with IBM.

Three main fronts exist on which this war is being fought. They are all interrelated, and it is difficult to look at any one in isolation. These fronts are:

* programming language
* scripting language
* Web browser.

==Programming language==
In this arena, it's Java, representing SunSoft/Netscape, versus ActiveX Controls, representing Microsoft.

Java is a new  programming language. It is object-oriented, compact, and  interpreted. It is derived  from C++, but much easier to use.

Because Java is interpreted, a Java program  can  run  on  any  machine that  supports the Java interpreter. And because the Java interpreter is highly portable, it is available for just about every machine  type. Java pro grams do not have to be recompiled; they are simply downloaded and run. There is absolutely no difference be tween a Java program for UNIX and a Java program for OS/2.

Java's "download and run" capability is an essential part of the Sun Soft/Netscape "who  cares about  the operating  system"  philosophy. It is also an attractive concept to any software vendor that  would like to sup port a single product that can be run on any machine.

There are two basic categories of Java interpreters.  One category is an interpreter designed for  running stand-alone Java applications. The other interpreter is designed for running  mini-applications under  the control of a Web browser. These Web based  mini-applications are called applets. The programming model for applets is slightly different from the one for applications, but with care, a programmer can write Java code that will run both as an applet or as an application.

Microsoft doesn't think developers want  to start  writing  in a new language. They believe there are plenty of applications already written in C and C++, the standard languages for most software developers.

What  Netscape/SunSoft call an applet, Microsoft calls a component. Microsoft believes that it already has a widely accepted model for developing components, and  that  model is OLE (Object Linking  and  Embed ding). OLE describes how an application can be  written as a component. Components have well-defined mechanisms for interacting with each other, including the ability to run as an embedded component  within another component,  such as a Web brows er.  OLE components are  typically written in C++ and must support specific methods defined by OLE.

OLE doesn't support linking across the Internet. Microsoft has added ex tensions to include this support. An OLE component  that supports these extensions  is said to be an ActiveX Control.  Microsoft believes that  any serious application is already written as an OLE component, and with minimal modification, can be turned in to an ActiveX Control. Why, it asks, would anyone want to totally rewrite their application in a new, unproven language?

Of course, ActiveX components, unlike Java applets, are going  to be operating-system-specific. You can't take  code compiled for Windows and run it on a Macintosh. But Microsoft doesn't see this as an issue. Windows is the only real operating  system, it reasons, so why would anyone want to run code any where else?

So the language front  boils down to these issues.

ActiveX provides a logical upgrade path  from OLE and  offers the best support for traditional programming languages, such as C++. Any number of applications can serve as a host to an ActiveX Control. However, these applications can only be run on one operating system.

Java is a new language that allows the  development of machine-independent applications. It is designed to be simple. It does away with many of the complexities of C++. A Java applet can be run on any number of operating systems. However, existing apps must be rewritten in a new language.

==Scripting language==
HTML (Hyper-Text Markup Language) is a well-accepted standard for describing the layout of documents. When you download a page to your Web browser, you are really down loading an  HTML file.  This  file  is then  interpreted and  displayed as a Web page by your browser. HTML is supported  by both  Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Explorer.

Web  page  designers have  long wished to extend HTML with some rudimentary programming  capabilities. These capabilities  would  allow processing that  is now done  on the server to be moved to the client, where it can be done much more efficiently.

Both Microsoft and Netscape/SunSoft have proposed HTML extensions called Scripting Languages. Scripting languages are mini-programs embedded directly into an HTML file. Need less to say, Microsoft and  Netscape/ SunSoft do not agree on what this scripting language should look like.

Microsoft thinks  that  any scripting  language should be based  on some  well-established script-like technology.  By an incredible coincidence, Microsoft  happens to  have just such a technology available. It is called Visual Basic. The scripting language  it  proposes is VBScript, for Visual Basic Script, a straightforward extension  of Visual Basic. This path,
•Microsoft argues, allows the many developers familiar with Visual Basic to make an easy switch to HTML programming.

Of course, in the Netscape/SunSoft view,  real  programmers don't  use Basic. Nobody, they argue, will want to use a derivative of-snicker, snick" er-'--Basic when we have a modern programming language like  Java available. Therefore, the  scripting language should be one derived from Java:JavaScript.

Many of  the  arguments about JavaScript versus  VBScript are  old dogs in new costumes. Are object-oriented languages better that procedural languages? Which  are  easier  to learn? Which are easier to maintain? In which style are most existing pro grams already written?  You get the picture.

==Web browser==
The most visible front of the Net Wars is the battle over the Web browsers. Microsoft offers Internet Explorer. SunSoft/Netscape offer Netscape Navigator. Much ink has been spilled com paring  these two. Which  is faster? Which is better integrated with other Web tools? Which is more expensive?

In reality, none of these issues matter much. Most articles are missing the basic point of the war.

In reality, Microsoft doesn't  care about selling Explorer. It cares about getting rid of Netscape and eliminating its dangerous vision that the Web browser, rather than the operating system, is the top of the GUI heap. The  Mi crosoft plan  is to have Explorer beat Netscape, and then morph  Explorer into the operating system.

Netscape/SunSoft has an initial lead in the   browser field.

They are using a three-prong strategy:

* get Navigator out to as many sites as possible, to as many machines as possible
* take advantage of the widespread interest in Java as a development language for creating applets
* encourage as many people as possible to develop applets.

Microsoft is running a close second, much too close for Netscape/SunSoft's comfort. Microsoft is using a four-prong strategy to win on the browser front:

* give Explorer away free
* support  all of the  capabilities  of Navigator including Java applets and JavaScript
* extend these capabilities with ActiveX components and VBScript
* encourage  Web sites  to take  ad vantage of the  Explorer-specific capabilities.

There is one little-noticed technical area in which Microsoft and Netscape/SunSoft have gone in different directions. This  area is one  that  is likely to have a major impact on the evolution of the Net, and yet is hardly ever discussed. This area is security.

Security is a significant issue when people are downloading software from the  Net. How can one  be sure that  the software being downloaded is trustworthy?

Netscape/SunSoft build their security  into Java  and  the  Java  interpreter. They've removed features from  the  language that historically have  been  a favorite tool  of  hackers-these features, say  Netscape/SunSoft, are unnecessary anyway due to  the  simplicity of Java. They  have also  restricted what  a Java  applet  is allowed to do while running under Navigator.

The  most  significant restriction enforced  on Java  applets  by Naviga tor is the ability to read and write lo cal files. Netscape/SunSoft rightly believe that if arbitrary  applets can be downloaded from  who  knows  where and allowed  to  read and  write  local files, then the possibility for  malicious netplay is unlimited.

On the other hand, this restriction makes it almost impossible to write a serious  application. How  many  real applications do  not need   to  store data in files?

Microsoft has  made a different choice. In  its  security model, every ActiveX control is assigned a unique, secure ID code. Given a control,  one can determine its ID code. This code cannot be forged. The system administrator  registers the ID codes of trust ed components within  the  operating system.

When  a component is about  to be downloaded from the Net,  its  ID code  is checked against those the operating systems  trusts.  Only  trust ed  components are  allowed to  be downloaded. Once  you  download  a trusted component, you  allow  it  to do  whatever it  wants, include read and write files. After all, you trust it.

The Microsoft security mechanism allows much  more  robust  controls  to be downloaded. Controls can  do  all of the  things we normally associate with OLE components and real applications. However, a system administrator must decide in advance that a particular control  is trustworthy.

The  Netscape/SunSoft security mechanism allows Java applets  to be downloaded  from  anyplace. The per son writing a Web page can write any Java  applets the page  needs, and ensure  they  are downloaded  as need ed. The system  administrator doesn't have  to  decided in  advance which applets will be allowed  to  run. The browser doesn't  have to worry about what the applets will do, because Navigator  won't allow  them  to  do  any thing dangerous. However, the applets will be very limited-one might  even say, crippled, in functionality.

==The wild card==
There is one wild card in this whole game that  is worth  considering. This card is thrown in  by Oracle Corp., a company better  known for  its  relational database products.

Oracle envisions  a network-specific computer, nicknamed NC (Net work Computer). This computer  will be extremely  cheap  and  very limited in functionality. In fact,  about  all it will be able to do is run a built-in  Net browser. It won't have to worry about reading and  writing to  local disks, because it won't have any. Any data it needs will  be  downloaded across the Net.

This  vision  is highly compatible with the Netscape/SunSoft view  of the world. For this machine, the browser is the operating system. Nothing could  please  Netscape/Sun Soft more.

Oracle believes NCs, at a cost of a few hundred dollars, will become as ubiquitous as  telephones. If this vision becomes reality, Netscape/Sun Soft will have gained a powerful ally.

==Final thoughts==
No one knows how the Web  will evolve over the coming year. Will it become  a seamless  extension of the operating system, or  will  it  replace the operating system? Will it be used for  running large applications or small applets? Will the new world of applications be  written as  minor extensions of OLE, or  will  they  be written in a brand  new programming language that barely  existed a year ago?

All we know  for  sure  is that we live  in interesting times. The  best thing  to do is to sit back and  dodge the bullets.

==Books on these topics==
The Java Programming Language by Arnold  and  Gosling (Addison-Wesley). A good introduction to the basic Java language. The problem with the book  is a lack of information on  the AWT (GUI) toolkit. Recommended.

The Java Tutorial by  Campione and Walrath (Addison-Wesley). This book was  originally written as  a hypertext-linked HTML document. A lot  of good  information is here,  but the  attempt to  maintain its  hypertexted  lineage  is very annoying. It is also  highly biased towards applet rather than  application development. Not recommended.

Core Java by Cornell and Horstmann
(SunSoft Press/Prentice Hall). A good,
comprehensive book,  with  especially effective coverage  of the  AWT (GUI) toolkit. Biased towards applications rather than applets. Recommended.

Java in  a Nutshell by  Flanagan
(O'Reilly and  Associates). This small
reference  book  is indispensable. You will  use  it  many times  each  day  to find  some  obscure  method and  look up  some  class  hierarchy. Not  good for learning Java, but great once you know it. This book never leaves my knapsack. Highly recommended.

The Java Application  Programming Interface, Volumes  1 and  2, by Gos ling  and  Yellin  (Addison Wesley). Similar to Java in a Nutshell as far as library coverage, but   much more extensive. Good  for  your  bookshelf. Recommended.

The Java Language Specification  by
Gosling, Joy,  and  Steele  (Addison
Wesley). This book  contains the  for mal  definition of  the  language. A necessity for  people implementing the  Java  language and  others who have  absolutely no  real  life.  Other wise, not recommended.

JavaScript by Flanagan (O'Reilly and Associates). A good overview and reference book  for JavaScript. This book  is about the  beta  version, so things  will change. Recommended.

Presenting ActiveX by Ernst (Sams Net).  A high-level overview of the Microsoft  strategy  with  ActiveX. Not much  information for  the  hard-core techie, but there isn't much out about AcuJex. Recommended. 

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