Computerworld’s Carol Sliwa did a question and answer session with James Gosling at this past week’s JavaOne conference. Gosling, a vice president and fellow at Sun Microsystems Inc., is credited with the creation of the Java programming language. The interview highlights Gosling’s distaste for Microsoft technology and general business practices — issues that have become annoying enough to the computer scientist to turn away from Windows XP and towards Mac OS, in fact.
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In the interview, Gosling compares Microsoft’s .NET architecture to J2EE, or Java 2 Enterprise Edition. “I think the most important thing I’d say to people comparing J2EE vs. .Net is that J2EE is a market, .Net is a product … You’ll find hundreds of companies with components and tools and app servers in the J2EE world,” explained Gosling.
Gosling also comments on C#, a new alternative to Java developed by Microsoft. Gosling expressed early trepidation about C#, hearing rumors about what it was supposed to be able to do. The reality fell far short, according to Gosling, who criticized Microsoft’s apparent lack of creativity.
“I guess one of my pet areas is scientific computation. They might have done something creative to make that easier,” said Gosling, who describes his own feelings as “abused and ripped off” when he noted how similar the syntax of C# and Java were.
Noting Microsoft’s “absolute monopoly on the client. Certified and convicted,” Gosling said “… And from a personal point of view, I personally actually read the [Windows] XP license and decided I couldn’t sign it. So I’ve been shifting over to Mac.”