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At an internal Microsoft developers conference last week, a company official reportedly said that the minimum installation of the next Internet Explorer release would not include a Java Virtual Machine.
A developer who attended Dev Day '98 said the announcement came in a speech by a Microsoft product manager, entitled "What's New With IE 5." According to the developer, who asked not to be identified, the Microsoft speaker said that when a user does the minimum installation of IE5, then surfs to a site that uses Java, the user will be prompted with, "This site uses Java, which requires a Java Virtual Machine. Would you like to download it now?"
If Microsoft follows through with the move, it could result in a vastly reduced number of browsers on the Internet that support Sun Microsystems' prized programming language, since many users never bother to install software beyond what comes pre-packaged.
Currently all the various download options for Internet Explorer 4.0 for Windows include Java support. The smallest download, called "Browser only," includes the browser and support for DirectX and Java. The larger downloads add components like Microsoft's email software, Outlook Express, Active Desktop, and Microsoft's Web Publishing Wizard.
As all the mainstream Windows downloads now include Java support, the scenario would introduce the first for the browser that did not. Adding Java support after-the-fact would make its use similar to the way browser plug-in software is used today. To add functions to the browser, users can download plug-in software supporting special features like audio and MIDI support, and thereby make it part of the browser.
But plug-in software has often faced an uphill battle in getting the general surfing audience to learn about and install them. Putting Java support in the same category might have a similarly damaging effect on the ubiquitous support for the language on the Web.
Even when users know about plug-ins, downloading them can be unappealing because of the time required to wait for their download. Java Virtual Machines, or JVMs, are typically a few megabytes in size, and would represent a substantial download wait for browsers with conventional 28.8k modems. A JVM download page for specialized versions of Explorer, for example, shows file sizes ranging from one to five megabytes.
Officials at Microsoft refused to confirm the source's report, but Craig Beilinson, an Internet Explorer product manager, said that "one of the things that we are thinking very hard about as we move forward, is the fact that size and performance are very important customer requirements."
"Users also need the ability to view all the great content that is on the Web (DHTML, CSS, ActiveX, Java, etc.) and have access to a rich feature set for customization, security, etc.," he wrote in email. "At the same time, developers and corporate administrators need a rich application platform and administration solution."
Beilinson said it is too early to speculate specifically about the next version of IE, but that "perhaps the best solution would be a browser that dynamically loaded the features that it needed as the user surfs the Web."
Beilinson would not confirm or deny the source's report of what was discussed at the conference. Beilinson emphasized, however, that the conferences are strictly internal events with presentations that reveal ideas in progress. To "extrapolate features from these early thoughts would be purely speculative at this point," Beilinson said.
By contrast, Netscape's plan for the next version of its browser will let users use third-party Java Virtual Machines, but will continue to provide one by default in all available versions of the software. "A customer has a choice of using whatever JVM is appropriate for them," said Jonathan Coor, senior product manager for Navigator.
"The [application programming interface] will be there so that as other providers deliver the latest Java support, users will be able to pull ours out and plug theirs in," he said. Netscape does oversee a Java-free version of its browser -- for the moment, anyway -- in the form of its free browser source code, mozilla. "There is no Java support in the source today -- for legal reasons we couldn't give out Java [source code]." But the code will be altered as soon as possible, Coor said, to support the use of third-party Java Virtual Machines. "We want to advance that as quickly as we can."
Though the company will be leaving the advancement of Java to these third-party JVM developers, the company said it doesn't envision completely removing basic Java support from the browser at this point.
"Right now our plans are not to do that and there's a good reason for it -- that we want to have base-level Java support in the client. We think that's important," Coor said.
Sun officials said the company would not comment on the possibility JVM would not be included in the minimum installation for IE browsers until it could verify Microsoft's plans for themselves.
Ironically, Sun announced today that it will soon ship a plug-in version of its own Java Virtual Machine, formerly code-named Activator. But while Sun's plug-in may point to the ultimate architecture for Java support for the future, the move is not meant to replace Java Virtual Machines in browsers. Rather, it is there to ensure that browsers are using the most up-to-date JVMs. If they're not, the new plug-in would update the software.
That's why at least one Java proponent remains concerned about the impact of offering Java-free browsers.
"It's very important that the hundreds of thousands of Java developers in the world have a fair chance to deploy their programs to the enormous market segment controlled by Microsoft," said Rick Ross, president of the Java Lobby. The Java Lobby calls itself the world's largest independent group of Java developers and supporters, with more than 16,000 members.
"It's Microsoft that tells us that the browser is inextricably integrated into Windows and cannot be replaced or removed," Ross said. "Our read on that is that the browser's interface to Java is an essential facility that the developer community needs fair access to."
Dwight Davis, an analyst at Summit Strategies, even suggests that the absence of Java support could go unnoticed by many browsers. "It makes a lot of sense to offer a hierarchy of browsers to give users more of a choice. Right now, most people don't even know what a JVM does, and probably wouldn't miss it if it wasn't there," Davis said.
Ross doesn't rule out a potential positive angle on the development, such as Microsoft opening up its Windows browser to be able to plug in any Java Virtual Machine, from Microsoft or others. The company has already deployed such an architecture in its version of Internet Explorer for the Mac.
"You could select which JVM you want to use -- it's the ultimate manifestation of the idea 'Let the customer decide,'" said Ross. "If they introduced that on the PC, the entire dynamic of the Java marketplace would be different and Microsoft would be much more respected within it."
But for now, Ross doubts that Microsoft is simply out to provide a new model for Java support. "I'm not naive. I believe that Microsoft has demonstrated pattern behavior that reflects an anti-Java intention. It is most unlikely that Microsoft will abruptly turn and do an about-face from its position."
