The Modest Origins of Java
If there’s a message to take away from The Java Story documentary, which premiered on YouTube one memorable Friday, it’s that even the most powerful tech empires can start with nothing more than a shaky concept. Java was initially just a failed attempt at set-top box success before requiring a significant overhaul just days before a prominent conference. Today, Java remains at the pinnacle of the TIOBE popularity index and is a key player in enterprise software. However, in ’94, Sun Microsystems was on the verge of giving up. Tim Lindholm, brought in to refine a virtual machine runtime that would become Java, admitted to GadgetLad, “I was almost the last guy they hired before everything went wrong.” This wasn’t the only time Java faced the threat of obscurity.
Java Documented
The Project That Nearly Didn’t Happen
Lindholm’s entry into computing was spurred by the frigid winter in Minnesota, which left him camping like an adventurous Geordie Bear Grylls. He secured an internship at Argonne National Lab in Illinois, where he gained insight into virtual machines. Though Lindholm’s passion lay with mathematics, he believed “Computer science was for those who couldn’t make it as true mathematicians.” His virtual machine expertise took him to Xerox PARC and ultimately to Sun. In ’94, he became part of a Sun “spin-in” called FirstPerson. Sun aimed to venture into software for devices beyond the engineering workstations they sold. FirstPerson was chasing a contract with Time Warner for interactive television software. Gosling conceptualized a language, Oak, for this project. However, the contract was awarded to Silicon Graphics (SGI). Feeling the sting, Sun laid off most of the FirstPerson team.
Shifting Focus to the Web
Fortune turned when they transitioned to the web. A remaining engineer experimented with the Mosaic browser and identified the World Wide Web as Oak’s new avenue. This came before Windows 95, mind you. They developed WebRunner on Oak for animations, paving the way for Java applets. Progress accelerated. Oak was rebranded as Java in ’95, named after the team’s coffee habits. “It took off like a damn rocket. It was incredibly stressful,” said Lindholm. Early web developers encountered the limitations of HTML, being merely a markup language. Lindholm and Frank Yellin “had to make it functional.” They finalized the JVM specification. Java was presented at ’95 SunWorld (the forerunner of JavaOne), although the runtime crashed dramatically. Lindholm rewrote the threads package in three days, and during the conference, Scott McNealy showcased Java to an audience where Lindholm feared a disaster. Thankfully, it functioned well.
Before Open Source
Lindholm also guided Java toward becoming open source. They released the runtime as a complimentary offering; anyone could access “the sources.” Thousands took advantage. The documentary recounts how Java’s site attracted more traffic than Sun.com, prompting them to establish a makeshift pirate T3 line. Lindholm viewed the source sharing as a clever career strategy. Others resolved bugs and further developed it. It wasn’t made official, as Richard Stallman’s radical views didn’t align with Sun’s executives. Java’s formal open source release came a decade later. Applets didn’t fully dominate the web as ColdFusion and Netscape’s JavaScript captured the limelight, but they set the stage for back-end servers.
The Malevolent Empire
Then Microsoft perceived Java as a Windows rival, notably for NT encroaching upon the enterprise arena. Younger IT professionals may not understand how ruthless and capable Microsoft was back then. In ’96, they licensed Java for Windows but altered APIs and ignored others (remember J++?). Sun accused Microsoft’s modifications of undermining Java’s promise of cross-platform compatibility to favor Windows. The protracted legal battle drained the team, diverting focus from Java. Microsoft ultimately compensated Sun billions in settlements. “It was personal,” remarked Lindholm.
A Turbulent Journey
The documentary chronicles Java’s decades-long ups and downs, from J2EE’s complexities to Spring’s optimism, Sun’s collapse, Oracle’s acquisition, and the rise of JVM languages post-OpenJDK release. Java sustained Sun despite their SPARC server market declining, thanks to affordable Linux x86 machines. Lindholm witnessed the expansion of the Java team, overtaking Sun’s headquarters and relocating into Apple’s former premises. The corporate environment dulled Lindholm’s enthusiasm for Java by the 2000s, prompting his move to Google until his retirement this year. Reflecting on those formative years, he pondered, “Some things just end up being significant, though you can never foresee why.” Others, like Gosling, concurred that Java was an exhilarating journey. As Gosling stated, “The uncertainty excites me the most about the future. The major developments are often the least anticipated.”
Overview
Title: “Java: From Set-top Box Fiasco to Coding Triumph!”
Java’s narrative is a gripping saga, evolving from a set-top box failure to an essential component of enterprise technology. With near-disasters, web transformations, Microsoft confrontations, and open-source stories, it’s a tale deserving of a Geordie’s pint at the local pub.
