>
>actually (IMHO that is) MS implemented JAVA and entered the browser market
>with such zealus for two (which are actually one) reasons - Windows and OLE
>(a.k.a. ActiveX)

What does Java have to do with AciveX?

>MS wanting dominance in the browser market is not a goal it is a way to
>protect all the investments in the windows platform - remember MSIE is free
>- and not only does it not generate any income it cost a lot of money in
>development costs (IMO MSIE is better then NS today, though with revision
>5, NS4 looks more like MSIE)
>MS also quicly produced thier own Java compiler - which, yeah you guessed
>it , can also create ActiveX controls..
>

The reason why MS offers IE for free because 1) they can afford to and 2) they almost got "caught with their pants down" in 1995 when they came out with IE. For all practical purposes MS did not know what the internet was until late 1995.

My point of view is that developing apps in Java is needless and the only reason why it is so popular is because browsers "interpret" it and display cool graphical stuff...

Here is an excerpt from: http://www4.zdnet.com/anchordesk/story/story_977.html

Poor performance: It takes too long to download Java applets.
When they finally arrive on your desktop, they run too slowly. Java is
particularly bad on 16-bit Windows 3.1, still the most widespread
platform at most corporations.
Poor tools: Things are improving rapidly, but Java still has nowhere
near the tools available for other major languages.
Write once, run anywhere doesn't work: Small applets run okay
on most platforms, but larger applications do not, as PC Magazine
discovered in recent lab tests.
Infighting threatens to split Java into incompatible camps:
Microsoft and Sun/Javasoft are offering alternative Java class libraries
and alternative virtual machines, raising the very real danger of two
incompatible "flavors."
Sun's 100% Pure Java campaign is meeting resistance: Sun
recently relaxed its standards for issuing 100% Pure Java
certification. It may not have had a choice. Developers aren't signing
on and the most prominent Java applications don't meet the criteria.
Sun's deceitful standards effort is costing it support: After
pressure from AnchorDesk and others, Sun belatedly agreed to turn
over Java to a standards body. Then it declared itself a standards
body, making a mockery of the whole concept. (Imagine the reaction
if Microsoft declared itself a standards body!)