WinInsider

Fate of Microsoft's Java Tools in Hands of Programmers
At a Visual Basic .NET users group meeting in Redmond this week, representatives from Microsoft said that the fate of the company's Java programming tools was in developer's hands. Currently, Visual J# is in limbo, with a new Java Language Conversion Assistant (JLCA) tool designed to port J# (Java) code over to C#, Microsoft's new .NET-oriented langauge. But if the company finds that enough Java programmers want to work with that language natively and not move to C#, it will rethink Visual J#. That's the story, anyway.

Readers Find Fault with Nader
A number of readers were upset with Ralph Nader's suggestions that the US government use its buying power to influence the design of security features in Microsoft's products. Certainly Nader is a catalyst for ... disagreement. But the real issue here shouldn't be government blackmailing of Microsoft, governmnet sponsorship of Microsoft's foes, or any other things that seem to be part of Nader's plan. Instead, various government agencies should choose those solutions that make the most sense for them, regardless of whether the solutions come from Microsoft, Apple, or an open source company. And if that means Microsoft gets fewer sales, fine. I don't think it's unreasonable for any institution, be it corporate, government, or education, to approach Microsoft and ask the company to prove to them that they got security right before purchasing some major new upgrade. After all, the company has failed in this regard enough in the past to warrant such an investigation.