Re: Postgres idea list

On Wed, 26 Jun 2002 11:35:07 PDT, the world broke into rejoicing as
Josh Berkus <josh(at)agliodbs(dot)com> said:
> > What do you see as the drawbacks with java, and how can they be
> > circumvented?
>
> 1. Java is not Open Source. It's an open standard, but not OS.

The problem is not with the language; it is with the layered libraries
on top.

It's reasonably usable as a server side language; the _real_ serious
problems come in if you want to build a GUIed application, when your
choice is between:

a) A really klunky AWT UI that will be unacceptable to all, and

b) A SWING UI that makes your application critically dependent on
non-"open source" software.

The old Java 1.01 stuff is fairly successfully "freely usable," but
that's not what anyone wants to develop with. They want the cool new
J2EE stuff, and it takes some serious research to figure out that you
aren't going to be doing that with 'free software,' despite the
existence of stuff like JBoss. You still need components that are
Definitely Not Free.

The answer is that someone has to implement a complete set of
replacements for the SunSoft components under free licenses. That
"circumvention" is a distinctly non-trivial task.

> 2. I understand that there are some serious limitations to the current
> Postgres JDBC drivers. I have not used them, so I'm reporting rumor,
> here.

I've not run into problems with them, but maybe my use hasn't been
extensive enough :-).
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