Three's A Crowd With Object Lessons By Nick Gall   Don't get me wrong. I'm a huge Java fan--Java, the language that is. Unfortunately, the incredible hype surrounding Java has emboldened JavaSoft to attempt the displacement of the Object Management Group's (OMG's) Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA) with Java Beans for the Enterprise (JBE), to vie with Microsoft's Distributed Component Object Model (DCOM) as the distributed component architecture for Web applications. I'm all in favor of using Java as the language for implementing a distributed component architecture, but we don't need another component standard. Accordingly, users should ignore the hype and consider only CORBA and DCOM as standards. Java will play an important role in enterprise applications, but it will not revolutionize every aspect of application architecture--contrary to JavaSoft's claims. At the JavaOne conference in April, JavaSoft outlined JBE, a server-side component model. Previously, JBE had been positioned as a client-side GUI-component standard. Some of JavaSoft's statements regarding JBE position it as a distributed component model that will compete with both DCOM and CORBA for the hearts and minds of developers. At other times, JBE is merely positioned as a Java-specific instance of these other models. Two competing distributed component models is bad enough. Users must resist any attempts by JavaSoft to establish JBE as an alternative to DCOM and CORBA. Otherwise, the CORBA camp, which is just beginning to consolidate, could be torn apart by a standards war that would leave Microsoft's DCOM the winner. The upside is that we would have a single standard; the downside is that the winner would be Windows-centric (leaving Unix and oth er platforms with second-rate support or none at all). CORBA Gets Its Act Together Microsoft and the CORBA vendors have moved rapidly to deploy their competing component models. Microsoft has begun shipping its Transaction Server (formerly Viper)--the foundation of its DCOM-based Active Server technology. In the CORBA world, major players--BEA Systems, IBM, Oracle, Sun and Sybase--are backing the CORBA standard and moving quickly to improve interoperability and portability among different vendors' object request brokers (ORBs). More important, IBM, Oracle, Sun and Netscape have formed a "grand alliance" to ensure that their implementations interoperate and that they fill in the gaps in the CORBA standard in a consistent way. This momentum behind CORBA is essential to attracting the support of ISVs, systems integrators and corporate developers. Corporate developers are ready to pick a strategic distributed component standard next year. Unfortunately, JBE is diluting the CORBA consolidation messa ge. Although the developers at SunSoft are fully behind CORBA, the developers at JavaSoft have delusions of grandeur for JBE. At various times, JavaSoft has touted a Java alternative to a CORBA standard. Although JavaSoft pays lip service to CORBA by offering a Java-to-CORBA mapping known as JavaIDL, its public statements have positioned CORBA as merely a legacy application wrappering technology, while JBE has been positioned as the distributed component model for new application development. Put Java Beans in Its Place JavaSoft must get on the CORBA bandwagon and turn JBE into nothing more than a Java instantiation of CORBA and CORBA Object Services Specifications (COSS) on the server side. On the client side, JBE can fill a gap in CORBA that was originally meant to be filled by OpenDoc--a model for GUI components. CORBA's main focus has always been on the server side. CORBA has never had a model specification to compete with desktop Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) components because ORB ven dors were betting on OpenDoc on the client side. With the demise of OpenDoc, JBE GUI components can offer a standard for heterogeneous client GUIs. Users are ready to choose a distributed component strategy this year, and must choose wisely. Ignore the hype and put Java Beans back in its place--on the desktop. Nick Gall is a program director with the META Group's Open Computing & Server Strategies service. He can be reached at nick.gall@metagroup.com.

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