Pony Fail: Why Java App Store won't take off

http://thermalnoise.wordpress.com/2009/05/21/pony-fail/

by dedalus • 17 years ago

20 9 17 years ago

thermalnoise.wordpress.com

lurkinggrue• 17 years ago

I haven't had Java installed on my computer for years, not going to start now.

axod• 17 years ago

That's an insane comment. Don't even know where to start.

amilr• 17 years ago

why? the only use for java on my PC right now is that one of my banks' website requires it for login.

swombat2• 17 years ago

2) Dude, where is my IDE ? Not Netbeans. Something like that shiny “Adobe Flash” thing.

Obviously the author has never tried to write ActionScript within the omg-rip-my-brain-out-before-i-kill-myself-awful "Adobe Flash" application.

The best thing Adobe ever did with Flash was base FlexBuilder on Eclipse. I hear they were going to write their own IDE, but they had just hired some Microsoft guy who told them they were nuts and convinced them to build it on top of Eclipse instead.

wmf• 17 years ago

There's a big split between animators who couldn't imagine using Flex and programmers who can't stomach Flash Authoring. Flex and "traditional" Flash have little in common other than using the same runtime.

Looking at JavaFX, it's not clear which audience Sun is targeting. It looks like it's oriented towards programmers, but the language also has things like built-in animation.

swombat2• 17 years ago

Flex has plenty of animation stuff built-in... that doesn't stop it from being clearly "for programmers"... though to be fair, Flex's animation stuff is basically effects/transitions.

rbanffy• 17 years ago

That's exactly where I stopped reading. Someone who _wants_ to use Flash for programming has to have something very wrong in his or her head.

teilo• 17 years ago

My powers of whit fall short while trying to express how idiotic this idea is. When I read of this "brilliant" scheme earlier today, I thought it must be April 1st already.

Honestly, is Sun now being run by the marketing department? "Hey, guys, let's do the iPhone/Appstore thing. We'll be the first to do it on the desktop! A sure-fire winner! Besides, if we don't do it first, Adobe will scoop us!"

Riiiiight. Sun thinks that they need a Flash killer, something to compete against Adobe Air. And as we all know, Adobe Air has just been sooooo successful on the desktop.

stcredzero• 17 years ago

If they ditch the Java part, or relegate it to it's rightful place as a tech bullet point, then I think they're onto something. There is a point that would not just be imitation of Apple. There are a lot of users out there who need serious hand-holding -- the kind that they have to bug their tech savvy relatives, pay lots of $$ for, or that they simply don't get right now.

If someone can deliver a dead-simple system for getting slick, high-quality, security vetted desktop applications to people, it would serve an urgent need. It doesn't matter if the underlying tech is Java, Python, .Net, whatever. Most people will only care if it's easy and useful.

Do most people know or care that much of the iPhone code is Objective-C? Nope. They care that it works.

There is a big problem, however. The iPhone App store could get a critical mass of potential users because the hardware was so sexy, people bought the phone even when apps weren't available. What's going to do this for the Java App Store? Are they going to slip it into the JRE? Also, Sun has a history of not being able to make things easy or slick enough for the general populace. Heck, they have a hard time making interfaces gearheads like!

"My powers of whit fall short..."

Unintentional irony is often the funniest.

Pony Fail: Why Java App Store won't take off

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