Sun goes after Adobe Apollo, Ajax, Silverlight
The dust has hardly settled after Microsoft's unveiling of its Silverlight beta, or Sun Microsystems is making a plunge into the rich internet application market. — The server vendor on Tuesday will unveil its Java FX technology …
Context & Ripple Effects
The rich internet application field has been crowding fast this spring. In March, coverage framed the fight as Adobe and Microsoft trading rich versus reach and asked whether Apollo could survive a coming battle with Firefox itself; on May 7 Microsoft answered with a Silverlight beta unveiled at MIX that drew rave blog reviews, though a Read/WriteWeb poll found most readers impressed but not yet calling it a Flash killer.
Into that window Sun steps on May 8 with Java FX, its bid to give consumer-flavored Java a role in the same market — a notable pivot for a server vendor whose recent strategy talk centered on a Linux ecosystem play from early 2006. The pickup was broad for a single-day announcement: Jonathan Schwartz previewed it on his own weblog while CNET ('Sun tries again with consumer-flavored Java') and InfoWorld both ran the story the same day.
First-order effects
- Developers choosing an RIA runtime now face a three-way field — Adobe Apollo, Microsoft's fresh Silverlight beta, and Java FX — where a week earlier it was effectively two, and Sun must convince them its consumer-Java pitch beats incumbent Flash reach.
- Microsoft's MIX launch momentum is immediately contested: Sun is positioning Java FX directly against Silverlight within a day of its unveiling, forcing both vendors to defend their developer pitches in public.
Second-order effects
- Content publishers and toolmakers building rich web experiences must now hedge across runtimes or pick one, raising the value of whichever platform can bundle distribution — an advantage Microsoft holds through Windows and Sun claims through Java's installed base.
- Ajax, the lightweight approach already in production at most web shops, becomes the baseline all three proprietary stacks must justify themselves against rather than the alternative.
Third-order effects
- If all three platforms hold their course, the application runtime layer — not the browser or the OS — becomes the contested middle of the stack, with each vendor seeking lock-in via tools, plugins, and designer/developer workflows.
- A three-way runtime war pressures standards bodies and browser makers alike: the more functionality moves into proprietary plugins, the more the open web platform itself risks becoming the commodity layer underneath.
The trend: Rich internet application runtimes are multiplying into a three-way contest among Adobe, Microsoft, and Sun, as each tries to own the layer between the browser and the desktop.