>Plus, early Java tools were flaky, slow. Plus Java Developers tended to be young and creative, without any of the discipline and bureaucracy that wizzened old heads like us know has to be part of every life, no matter how cool a life it is.
>
>and it was quite fun that early Java had no facility to print from the Browser. We enjoyed that.
>
>I believe it is a lot better now, but features you'd want are still not supported widely in Browsers...
>
>Regards
>
John;

Silicon Valley was/is perhaps a bit different. We of the older generation were the first developers that I saw using and interested in Java, and it remained that way for perhaps the first two years. Lots of seasoned developers with real experience and then along came the .COM'ers - young - full of energy and greed to enjoy one of life’s adventures.

One thing has not changed IMO, and that is that browsers - all browsers - leave much to be desired - when compared to features and behavior expected from a desk top application! Now, why doesn’t Microsoft release ("force") a new Office suite - for I.E. browsers only? Why not have everything go through the browser? It has seemed that to be Microsoft's goal for a number of years. Yes, there is nothing like having a "Browser Experience"!

For a nominal fee, you get on the Internet and select word processor, spreadsheet, etc. and you give your credit card number. You are then billed by the minute and all your work is stored on a virtual drive – somewhere – for a price. For an additional fee, you may print one copy of your work. Additional copies will cost more.

In other industries (I came from electronic manufacturing) when standards exist it works in the favor of the public - the customer. With computers there seems to be little agreement and a different attitude towards the customer. What is important is to get out a "new release" of software so profits will rise. A list of known bugs is already known and what is most important is to be “first to market”! When a management decision is made as to how many bugs are “show stoppers” and should be resolved, then a Service Pack is released. Perhaps not all-serious bugs were resolved so additional Service Packs are in order. All this is going on while another team of developers is trying to meet the shipping date for the “new” product to replace the one already released - the one that does not work as advertised.

If you built an electronic appliance or a car that had "bugs", how would that fly? This is indeed an interesting segment of the world’s economy, and we are a part of it.

Enjoy the day.

Tom