New Java shareware repository
Can there ever be too many Java shareware sites? The JavaShareware Group has announced a new site for Java applications, applets, JavaBeans, scripts, development tools, and servlets. Along with this giant basket of Java goodies, developers will get a place to post their own creations and questions. The JavaShareware Group hopes this site will help address one of the major criticisms about Java — not enough apps.
Java-interactive crossword
Six down: What’s a four-letter word, beginning with “J”, that makes online, interactive crossword puzzles possible? Answer: Java.
Universal Crossword is a new Java-based interactive crossword puzzle, available to online newspapers through Universal Press Syndicate, that gives millions of letter addicts the chance to figure out the clues without having to download software.
Sample crossword: https://www.uclick.com/demo/puzzle.html
SNiFF+ gets a Java RAD toolset
TakeFive Software’s newest release of its cross-platform development environment, SNiFF+ 2.3.1, incorporates SNiFF+J, a set of tools optimized to make rapid Java app development easier. SNiFF+J includes an integrated graphical debugger for testing throughout the edit/debug cycle.
With the SNiFF+J browser, developers can reuse Java components and libraries, and examine their projects at any level of detail. It allows development on the Windows 95, NT, or Unix platforms, and supports browsers for and references to C, C++, Java, CORBA IDL, and Fortran, as well as provides an Open Parser API so you can plug in support for other languages.
“SNiFF+ 2.3.1 takes software developers a major step forward in accelerating their software development cycles,” said Andreas Pabinger, TakeFive’s vice president of sales and marketing. “SNiFF+’s advanced preprocessing of C and C++ code and its enhanced memory management enable developers to create complex applications far more quickly and efficiently.”
SNiFF+ comes in at ,990 for a floating license, ,995 for a Windows node-locked license, and 95 for a Java parser. If you’re a SNiFF+ client with a maintenance contract, version 2.3.1 is available free.
So where’re the JavaStations?
Don’t look for the JavaStation this summer. Problems will keep the boxes unavailable until the autumn, and the JavaStation OS isn’t expected until October ’97 at the earliest. Why? Sun is still adding features, and the operating system and animation software suffer from performance problems.
Unfortunately for Sun, the delay happens just as corporations seem to be grasping the importance of Java-based network computing. “We are starting to see the Java application environment running real, distributed applications,” said Ryan Martens, marketing VP at Avitek, a Java developer. “This paves the way for network computers.”
Nomura investment bank plans to install JavaStations
Nomura International has decided to replace 1,100 of its PCs with Sun’s JavaStations over the next two years, as well as to start using Solaris servers. Nomura had planned to add Java-based graphical interfaces to its desktops, so the proposed JavaStations seemed to fit the bill. The servers will support computer-intensive applications, database engines, file-distribution tasks, and group development work.
Geoff Doubleday, managing director of Nomura’s Information Systems Division, said, “JavaStations are cheaper to operate than PCs. Also, by writing our applications in Java, we get huge portability benefits because the apps will run on any platform we choose.”
Sun claims Java runs twice as fast on SPARC than on Pentium
Sun, battling an earlier claim by Intel that Java runs faster on Pentiums, has released benchmark results that shows Java running twice as fast on the UltraSPARC than on Pentiums. (See the previous JavaWorld news brief, “Intel claims: Java runs best on Intel.”)
Using the same tests as Intel (Pendragon Software’s CaffeineMark 2.5 benchmark), Sun claims that the SPARC Solaris platform received scores that were more than double the known scores for any WinTel architecture. CaffeineMark scores for Sun’s 200MHz UltraSPARC-II running Solaris 2.6 (beta) or 2.5.1 were 13,920; for a PentiumPro 233/256k running NT 4.0 and IE 3.02 was 5,661.
The CaffeineMark is a set of small Java programs that measures the speed of execution and 2-D graphics.
Anant Agrawal, Sun vice president and general manager of the Performance Products Group, said, “Sun has led the way on Java since its creation and, as these benchmark scores indicate, SPARC and Solaris remain at the forefront of Java performance. We optimized SPARC Solaris for Java performance by combining our proven expertise in delivering high-performance silicon with our unparalleled knowledge of Java.”
If you’re running Solaris 2.5.1, you can reproduce these results by grabbing a download at Sun’s site.
Virtuflex Web dev tool adds Java support
Virtuflex Software’s version 2.0 of its Web application development tool debuts with new support for Windows 95 and NT, and a new Java Database Connectivity component. The new JDBC Server component is a multi-threaded Java application that should provide high-performance database connectivity to Unix and Windows platforms, which users can access via a browser.
This version also includes Web-based administration screens, debugging utilities, and functions to help process Web forms. Debugging screens provide several levels of HTML-formatted information, including Syntax, SQL query errors, and processing times. Web-based administration screens allow administrators to visually manage configuration parameters from both local and remote Web browsers.
The standalone version for Unix costs ,495, and the 32-bit Windows version is 95.
Backgrounder: https://www.virtuflex.com/cgi-bin/virtuflex/virtuflex?template=/products/docs/productback.vfx
Data sheet: https://www.virtuflex.com/cgi-bin/virtuflex/virtuflex?template=/products/docs/datasheet.vfx
White paper: https://www.virtuflex.com/products/docs/whitepaper/vwhiteframe.vfx
Netscape unveils Beans strategy
Netscape started its developers conference on June 11 by outlining the changes to its products, plans, and partnerships that support using JavaBeans as an object-oriented development environment. Senior VP Eric Hahn and other Netscape officials said that the company’s goal is to provide corporate developers with an object component model that is cross-platform and that uses JavaBean objects as the building blocks.
Netscape, IBM, Oracle, and Sun have submitted a position paper to the Object Management Group on a standard method for extending CORBA/IIOP to support JavaBeans. And Rick Schell, client technologies VP, said that Netscape is exposing its directory, messaging, and database connectivity services in SuiteSpot 3.0 as Beans that developers can grab to build custom applications. In the next generation of client/server products expected in early 1998 (code-named “Apollo” and “Mercury”), Schell said all services, such as encryption services, will be exposed as Beans.
To its 30 enterprise applications, Oracle is providing Java-based client access, said Beatriz Infante, Oracle senior VP. The applications include human resources and manufacturing software. IBM is providing Bean-based access to its MQ Series, CICS, and Encina products, and is also delivering a component broker connector and toolkit by December 1997. The connector/toolkit is to be used for generating Beans that access multiple back-end services, said Patricia Dock, IBM’s director of object technology middleware.
Netscape’s Hahn said, “We’re bringing the power of object-oriented development to the mainstream. Historically, it was available only to the diehard programmer.”
Netscape plans to use its Web site to list all Beans available from Netscape and third parties. The current count is 90. The company also plans to post a debugger component for Visual JavaScript, a debugger that will work with Beans later. And in the fourth quarter of ’97, Netscape intends to ship full JDK 1.1 Bean event support.
VMs and Java browsers for Amiga
Following are links to sites where you can find updates on finding Java virtual machines and browsers for the Amiga platform.
VoyagerNG 2.88 browser
Mercapi JVM:
Finale Web Cruiser browser: https://www.finale-dev.com/finale.html
- Moca JVM: https://www.finale-dev.com/java.html
Intel’s Andy Grove stands behind Java
Intel’s CEO Andy Grove is standing behind the company’s Java development, he announced in his keynote address at the recent Netscape developers conference in San Jose. An anonymous Intel executive stressed, though, that Intel will not do a Java chip. “We’re offering support through tools. People just want their applications to run faster — they don’t care what language they’re written in.”
At the conference Intel also showed Vtune 2.5, its performance tuning tool, which includes support for Java. Vtune identifies sections of code that take up CPU time or have potential performance problems running on Intel chips. Then developers can optimize their applications for Intel chips. Vtune also helps developers optimize for MMX processors (the multimedia chip) and other languages.
Netscape promises pure Java Communicator suite
CTO Marc Andreessen promised Netscape will deliver a “100 percent pure” Java version of its Communicator software by the end of 1998 in his keynote at the recent Netscape Developers Conference. “Next year, we are going to do a 100 percent pure version of Communicator built on JavaBeans,” he said.
By developing a pure Java Internet client, Netscape would be operating within the paradigm that it has tried to foist upon other software developers — build cross-platform Java programs, not apps that only run on Windows platforms. Andreessen said the early advantage of building crossware applications is that companies can develop applications more quickly than their competitors. And early adoption would bring more and more companies along at an ever-faster pace. “All it really takes is one company to start harnessing technology, and the rest of the industry has to race to catch up because the bar has been raised.”
Netscape expects to deliver the Java Communicator after the next major version of Communicator, code-named Mercury, due in early 1998.
Netscape ONE crossware app white paper now available
This white paper shows developers how they can build and deploy this service-based application today. Crossware describes on-demand applications that run across networks and operating systems and can easily be extended to external partners and customers.
Java makes feudal Japan child’s play
The Big Fun game company has created “Ronin,” a new Java-based multiplayer strategy game based on feudal Japan. And it’s available for free.
In Ronin, the gamer is the leader of an army. First you handpick troops from a selection of characters, then you build your army and capital, then expand your empire by taking castles from your opponents — and that can be as many as 100 players.
Ronin contains a nifty feature not found in other Java games. You must choose and position your army well, because you can be attacked while you are offline. An AI-like function guards your property while you are absent, depending on your strategic positioning of troops. You may also gang forces to make larger armies, instead of just destroying others.
About using only Java to develop a game, Big Fun president Dov Jacobson said, “With Java, the PC is just a window to the game on our server and there’s this clean break between either playing a game, or just surfing on the Web. We wanted something that really works well on the Internet. And we wanted a game that you could keep coming back to because it’s always growing and it’s always different. We can incrementally update the Java programs easily, allowing new characters with new powers, even new territories to conquer when Japan becomes too confining. Games like this only really work over the Internet.”
Microsoft buys Cooper & Peters for its Java
Microsoft has acquired Cooper & Peters, a developer of object-oriented user interface frameworks for Java and Smalltalk. Microsoft plans to incorporate the C&P tools into its Application Foundation Classes (AFC) Java class libraries. The Smalltalk tools include widgets, a set of components, a UI framework, and WindowBuilder, a Smalltalk interface builder.
C&P’s EyeOpener Java component development suite includes the Windows 95 controls and such applications as a word processor, spreadsheet, and chart-creation package. The applications use C&P’s Beans-compatible Embedded Document Framework to give an OLE-like embedding ability.
Oracle 8 won’t support Java
Oracle, one company that has been championing Java and the network computer, will not be including Java support in the next incarnation of its database. Larry Ellison discusses why Oracle 8 won’t have Java: “It makes no sense for us to ship a next-generation application development product unless our own developers are engaged in using the product. We’re not there yet.”
Others are saying that this is just more evidence that Oracle’s Network Computing Architecture (NCA) is not as developed as the company’s hype would suggest. Especially since, when Oracle shipped its Data Mart suites last month, the software lacked support for CORBA. “It was all Windows NT, all DCOM, and not a whiff of CORBA. How can any user take Oracle’s advice on the NCA religion seriously if Oracle doesn’t practice it?” said Peter Burris, an analyst at the Meta Group.
Oracle 8 will not have the ability to run Java in the database server and will not support Java Database Connectivity (JDBC) and Java SQL (JSQL). Oracle hopes to release these features later this year in Oracle 8.0.3 or next year in Oracle 8.1.
IBM builds Universal Virtual Machine
IBM has confirmed that it is developing the Universal Virtual Machine, which will allow developers to use other languages to build platform-independent applications. Officials said the UVM will let the company’s Java, Basic, and Smalltalk-based VisualAge development be used to write seamless multiple-platform applications.
The UVM should translate Smalltalk and Basic (and Java) code like the Java virtual machine (JVM) does for Java. The UVM could be used by developers when they need to build cross-platform applications, and Java doesn’t have all the features and capabilities they need. But it probably won’t be a competitor to Java. Possibly, it will accelerate Java’s acceptance, since developers won’t have to make the decision to be tied to Java.
IBM plans to deliver the UVM in the fourth quarter, according to Robert LeBlanc, director of IBM’s Toronto laboratory. And Evan Quinn, an analyst at International Data Corp., hopes that IBM follows Java’s lead in the development of this VM. He said, “They need to keep it simple and lightweight. They don’t need another OpenDoc, that’s for sure. It needs to be fast and easy.”
Oracle Japan tests NC viability
Oracle Japan has started the “Early Start Program,” a program in which it will ask 30 systems integrators to help test the viability of network computers in business-critical situations. The company will provide an NC operating system, server software, and design knowledge to the integrators. In turn, the integrators will distribute NC terminals to their major customers (or potential major customers), in an effort to decide the TCO (total cost of ownership) of an NC system — and to build expertise in the installation of NC systems, gearing up for an all-out marketing effort.
NTT Data Corp., Nomura Research Institute, Softbank Corp., and CSK Corp. are just a few of the 30 integrators.
The program will start in July and will last for up to six months.
IBM’s OEM kit for NC development ships in July
The IBM Microelectronics Division is planning to ship an OEM development kit for Java-based NCs in July 1997. Plans are that the kit will cost 99, and will include the hardware, software, and networking products necessary for original equipment manufacturers to facilitate the development of NC systems.
The kit includes a 150MHz or 200MHz PowerPC 603e processor, motherboard design-specification instructions, optional Level 2 cache, integrated Ethernet, a smart card reader, and audio. Software support includes Microware Systems’ OS-9000 OS, a Java VM, a Java JIT compiler, device drivers, and remote boot firmware. Also, IBM is adding Java-based desktop, mail, and calendar applications from Lotus. And for an extra cost, you can get word processing, spreadsheets, and graphics applications.
UMAX Computer will be one of the first to build an NC using the kit. IBM hopes other companies will soon follow.
Dell Computer founder Michael Dell laughed at the idea of the NC in his keynote address at the recent PC Expo, claiming that the future of computing is not in “totally contained system[s],” that the aim is “access everything and interface with nothing.” He also, predictably, called the NC a “proprietary system that is more likely to [increase costs].” He offered instead the NetPC concept.
“Our large customers prefer PCs that are fully featured, but can be managed,” he said. “That is, they’d rather pay 0 or 0 more for a floppy drive, but be able to turn it off, than to have no ability to add the drive.”
Java site map applet Hi HelpIndex available
PHD Computer Consultants has released its Hi HelpIndex 2.1, a Java site-map applet that lets developers set up their Web site to be read like a book, with a table of contents and an index. The software is browser- and server- independent, and can run accessed from a CD-ROM. It also features support for various foreign languages. This version adds a new feature called Hi Lab, a Windows 95 and NT visual design tool that should simplify the setup.
Hi Lab can scan an existing site, then allow developers to edit the site visually; it uses HTML and Hi HelpIndex formats for its context-sensitive help feature. You can then create a search page and test to see if it works. Hi Labs uses Microsoft Internet Explorer to test its work.
The standard license for one site and workstation is 5. The developer license adds the ability to distribute Hi HelpIndex on CD-ROM integrated into your product. A 30-day evaluation copy is available.
Innotech’s NetResults search engine gets 100% Java cert
Innotech announced that NetResults, its Java-based Web site and intranet search engine, has been certified 100 percent pure Java. Innotech claims that, so far, it is the only company to receive the certification for search engine technology.
“Developers looking to build their applications with Java, who require indexing and search functionality, will view Innotech as the principal source of such [100 percent Pure Java] technology,” said Innotech president and CEO Norm Vokey.
“NetResults represents an ideal implementation of Java in an application because Innotech has designed the software to take advantage Java’s platform independence,” said George Paolini, director of corporate marketing at JavaSoft. “Innotech has developed a leading edge tool that will help change the face of information management on the Internet.”
The certification makes Innotech eligible for:
- Participation in exclusive joint marketing programs to reach users and sales channels.
- A presence on the high-traffic JavaSoft Web site.
- The “100% Pure Java” brand.
- A profile of the product on the JavaReel CD-ROM and Web site.
Versant ships 3 Java DB products
Versant Object Technology Corp. is shipping three products that integrate with its database (and support distributed data-sharing over the Internet) — the Versant Java Language Interface, VersantWeb, and the Versant Internet Adapter (VIA).
Versant’s Java Language Interface allows developers to build cross-platform Java applications that store native Java objects in the Versant database — and to take advantage of Java’s inherent networking capabilities. It offers active manipulation of objects and multithreading. It is compatible with the JDK 1.0 and 1.1, and with Symantec Cafe.
VersantWeb allows users to build complex apps by using a standard Web browser as a simple database client. It is compatible with standard Web servers and an open API, so developers can add processing logic into the middle of a three-tier application.
VIA is a plug-and-play application that lets users access any data within a Versant application through standard HTML. It automatically formats queries for presentation within a browser.
Developers can grab a free 60-day trial version of the Java Language Interface at Versant’s site. VersantWeb 1.1 with VIA is available for Solaris and NT for 95 per developer seat. VersantWeb with VIA is available for Microsoft Internet Information Server, Netscape Commerce Server, and any Web servers that support CGI.
- VersantWeb with VIA: https://www.versant.com/products/rel5/VersantWeb.html
Novell’s BorderManager being held up
The August ’97 beta release of the Java part of Novell’s BorderManager is being held up by development problems. The stall is due to a number of problems with its forthcoming Java module. BorderManager is part of the line of products Novell wants to introduce to capture the network services market; BorderManager is an integrated software suite that centrally manages user access privileges and security across the Internet, intranets, and the private network.
Also delaying the release is the IP Security Architecture standards body, which is still trying to define a uniform method to encrypt data across disparate server software.
“Network services may be an area in which they [Novell] can play,” said Ira Machefsky, VP of the Giga Information Group, “because they have a huge NetWare installed base, but it’s really an area where smaller, more tightly focused companies will win at the end of the day.”
https://www.novell.com/bordermanager/summary.html
Oracle develops Indian market NC
Oracle Software India has plans to develop a low-cost NC for the Indian market, one of the few ways Oracle officials see of overcoming the prohibitive local cost of PCs. CEO and managing director Anil Kaul said, “The applicability of the 00 to ,000 network computer in the Indian and Chinese markets, where the cost of a PC is still prohibitive for many, is immense.”
Kaul sees the “leaner and meaner” user-friendly NCs, with access to the same processing power as the PC, as the future of computing, especially in environments where computer purchase costs and operating costs consume a higher percentage of a business’ total operating budget. Add to this the ease with which NC devices can be integrated into existing networks and use existing applications and legacy data — and he added that most companies would only have to make moderate investments in the NC hardware and the Oracle server and OS software to increase the number of users.
SunConnect offers Java architecture for Web-based finances
Sun intends to demo the SunConnect middleware at a conference hosted by the Securities Industry Association. Sun claims the product will give banks a single gateway to their back-end applications, deploy on any hardware platform, and support most online transaction standards and specs — including Secure Electronic Transactions and the OFX (Open Financial Exchange) standard proposed by Microsoft and Intuit. Java is the key to letting the gateway accept financial data from various sources, such as ATMs, home-banking PCs, remote branches, and smart cards.
Also, Sun will demonstrate an OFX server that handily attaches to the middleware.
The product is expected to ship this summer.
Sausage settles suit with Anawave down under
Australian Java tool developer Sausage Software has agreed to non-cash settlement terms in its arbitration dispute with California-based Anawave Software. Under the terms, Anawave receives a non-exclusive license to update, modify, and sell Sausage’s HotDog 16 and HotDog Professional 3 products under the Anawave name. But Anawave does not get the right to use Sausage product names or company trademarks, nor do they get automatic rights to future releases of the products.
Save data from bad apps in the Cage
Digitivity is introducing a new security system, called the Cage, that will isolate Java applets from the internal network, at the same time allowing users access to the applets.
Instead of the Java applet being downloaded directly to a user’s browser, with Digitivity the applet is downloaded into the Cage, which sits in front of a firewall. The Cage splits the user interface from the applet (creating a proxy applet), then downloads it to a browser running on the user’s desktop. So the applet code stays locked in the Cage server, which also acts as a central repository for all Java applets.
The Cage runs on NT and Solaris, and prices start at ,500 for 25 concurrent users. This should support a network of about 100 users.
Plans for the future:
- By the fourth quarter of ’97, look for Policy Cage, which will allow IT managers to set up different policies for different Cage servers.
- By the first quarter of ’98, get ready for Enterprise Cage, which will enable IT to link Cage applets to systems running legacy applications.
Problems crop up with Java version of Novell tool
Novell’s new CEO Eric Schmidt has identified network services as the market to own. According to Schmidt, newtwork services could take IntranetWare from a mere file and print platform to a richer application delivery and management environment. But a new extranet software product in development, BorderManager, has already hit snags.
Novell has scheduled the final beta version of BorderManager to be released in July. But the Java-based upgrade to the product is delayed. Why the stall? According to one source, the development team has been hindered by the recent organizational changes at Novell.
Planned products like BorderManager are critical to Novell’s image rebirth, but analysts say Novell will be forced to pare down its product line and focus on Novell Directory Services, IntranetWare, and GroupWise.
Vendors follow through on promise of Java-based network management
Java-based network management apps that use Java applets to gather and display data and carry out device-management functions are on their way — at least according to IBM and Cisco.
IBM is announcing a Java-enabled version of Nways Workgroup Manager, a management platform and suite of device-management apps for the IBM 8210 Nways Multiprotocol Switched Services Server, the 8273 Nways Ethernet RouteSwitch, and other hardware from many vendors. The Windows NT- based software will collect and present real-time and historical statistics in graphical views and provide device status in real time. It also will allow users to browse, update, and compile Management Information Bases for devices.
Future IBM plans call for a generic Java device manager that can be customized with personalities to manage individual devices from IBM and other vendors.
Cisco is readying a Java application that will let administrators manage the company’s 2500 series low-end routers, its 4000 series mid-range routers, and some components of its 7000 and 7500 series backbone routers. The Cisco Resource Manager will ship in the first half of 1998, initially on the Sun Solaris platform. The software will later be available for NT.
See new images of Mars, through Marimba channel
On July 4, Marimba Inc. and NASA will offer a push channel of fresh images from the surface of Mars as the Pathfinder probe begins exploring the red planet.
Through the Mars channel, based on Marimba’s Castanet technology to “push” data to clients equipped with a Castanet Tuner, users will have the chance to experience a simulated version of controlling the Martian probe, while viewing actual images from Mars’ surface taken by the Pathfinder sensors.
In a nutshell, the Pathfinder data feed is received on Earth by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab in California, and then parts of the feed are linked to a Web server.
Marimba’s Castanet Transmitter will then supply a channel of Mars surface images, which will be pushed to end-users. According to Marimba staff, by using Castanet technology, a higher frame rate of images can be presented, as Castanet will only transmit the changes in an image. This improved frame rate for images will then allow end-users to operate the Pathfinder simulation.
The Pathfinder Web site is expected to go live on July 4 once the probe successfully lands. The URL is not presently available. The photos, video and data will be the first for NASA from the planet’s surface since the last probe landed in 1976.
2 new 100% Pure Java components coming soon from WebLogic
Selected beta testers recently got their hands on two WebLogic components that comply with the 100% Pure Java specification and that promise to let corporate users scale mission-critical applications working over either the Internet or intranets.
The first component, BeanT3, is designed to take any off-the-shelf, server-based JavaBean and turn it into a distributable component that functions across multiple platforms by working with various Java virtual machines.
One of the intentions of BeanT3 is to help corporate and third-party developers best utilize network resources (without having to become an expert in object programming) by masking much of the technical complexity involved.
The second component, RmiT3, is a higher-performance and more scalable rendition of JavaSoft’s Remote Method Invocation (RMI) specification.
Both BeanT3 and RmiT3 are core pieces of WebLogic’s T3Server Java-based multitier application framework for helping users construct applications capable of spanning the enterprise. Both will also make it possible for JavaStation users to use Java across the enterprise, company officials said.
Commercial shipment is to be expected by the end of September. Pricing has not been announced yet.
Korean company to make Java processors for Sun
Korea’s LG Semicon Co. will make Java processors for Sun Microsystems Inc. and will work with Sun on new versions of the chips.
Under the agreement between the companies, LG Semicon and Sun will co-develop the current generation of picoJava processors and next-generation derivatives. LG will manufacture the processors, which will be exclusively distributed by Sun worldwide.
The processors are designed to work with Sun’s Java programming language. They will include controllers for CRTs, modem ports and graphics cards in order to be suitable for consumer devices such as Internet television, kiosks and network computers, the companies said.
Sun plans to begin shipping the Java processors in the fourth quarter, with dedicated network appliances based on them to begin appearing in the first half of 1998, officials said.
LG Semicon: https://www.lgsemicon.co.kr
RSA licenses J/Crypto from Ireland-based Baltimore Technologies
RSA Data Security Inc. announced that it has licensed software from Ireland-based Baltimore Technologies Ltd. to bring cryptography libraries to its JSAFE software. JSAFE is designed to let developers use RSA’s public-key/private-key encryption technology to encrypt Java applets.
It appears that Baltimore’s J/Crypto software library will be a core component of RSA’s JSAFE since J/Crypto is a tool kit used by developers to add cryptography or digital signatures to applications.
Scheduled for release in July, JSAFE was designed particularly for the development of Java-based electronic commerce applications.
RAD Java tool planned for release by PowerSoft
Powersoft Business Group, a division of Sybase Inc., is getting ready to release its PowerJ rapid application development (RAD) tool for Java next quarter. Intended for shipping this quarter, PowerJ offers an integrated development environment and debugger based on those of the company’s Power++ (formerly Optima++) RAD tool for C++. Initially, PowerSoft planned to make PowerJ a Java add-on for Power++.
Powersoft will work with both Microsoft and JavaSoft iterations of the Java virtual machine for Windows, as well as for JavaBeans, ActiveX, Component Object Model, and CORBA components. It also will support Versions 1.0.2, 1.1, 1.1.2, and possibly 1.1.3 of the Java Development Kit.
At this time, pricing isn’t available.
