Alessandro Vernet wrote in to tell us that the long awaited Kaffe is now out. You can read about it here or cut to the chase and download 0.10.0 from this FTP site.

Tom Corbin writes "Here's an interesting article talking about the best of show and some cool demos at JavaOne The neat thing is the "Cyberonics Java-controlled soft realtime (22-30 millisecond) Process Logic Controller, or PLC, running the Sun JDK straight off the Web on the Linux operating system.""

Sun and IBM will be working together to roll-out yet another network based computer, that will be (surprise!) based on a JavaOS. The JavaOS, to be called JavaOS for Business, will be used in the new NCs that they are working on together. This deal calls for the rollout of machines in about a year and half.

mrjabba sent in what has to be the wierdest article of the day. This link talks about Apple's port of its' quicktime video code to Java. They score points for creativity, but ouch that needs to hurt Mr. CPU.

Richard Cannings of Java-Linux.org to just tell us that the site is up and running now, and is the central repository for Java/Linux JDK ports as well as other neato stuff like JITs and Dox. We also have this link from Andy Tai where you can read about the java Lobby's attempts to create a Free Software java desktop and applications under JFC as a way to prevent java from collapsing into a dozen incompatible variations.

Mike Linksvayer sent in this link and this one where you can read about the guys who created LesTif, and how they are now going to try to create an Official GNU version on the Java Virtual Machine. With Kaffe going proprietary, and all the hoopla surrounding HP and Microsoft's JVMs, I think we need a solution with open source or Java is going to be so fragmented that it will be useless on the net. Not that it's exactly spectacular today.

Fate wrote in to tell us that Java Developer's Parade has a Java Linux Port listed as the number one bug, and many requests for an officially supported JDK port as well. The site requires registration, but if you want to register your vote, it's worth it.

Chris Short writes "In a move that creates a rift among a industry coalition against MS, HP has announced that it is releasing it own JAVA Virtual Machine. This VM will be a subset of JAVA and will, along with MS, break JAVA's "write once, run anywhere" promise. HP insists that it still supports Sun's JAVA, but has created this subset for commercial appliances. Among the companies that have already licensed the HP VM is Microsoft for Windows CE. For articles on this look at news.com or the Wall Street Journal."

Paul A. Houle wrote to tell everyone to go to The java lobby and join the discussions related to Sun officially supporting the Linux JDK port. It seems like that should happen soon considering at the rate Linux is going, it will outnumber Solaris soon.

John Quinn wrote in to tell us about a letter that was posted on The Java Lobby. This is a group dedicated to Java in the most idealogical sense- write once run anywhere is a mantra. With 13,000+ members, it's a pretty impressive force. The letter is extreme- Gates is almost compared to Hitler, and as they say, them's fightin' words. The comparison is a bit excessive for my taste, but overall it's a worthwhile read, especially if you aren't aware of how MS has been playing the Java thing for their own gains for a while now. This is a good site to keep an eye on.

Sixty4Bit wrote in to tell us about an article at ZDNet's Developer.com about Java Video games. The cool part is that apparently I got some write in votes for Java Invaders. Thanks guys.

Paul Fisher wrote in to tell us that the 1.0 version of Swing is now available. He also pointed me to Metal Theme. The new AWT features pluggable look and feel, and this is the first demo of it. The hi tech UI is sorta a cross between modern MacOS, BeOS, and some X UIs. Very nice looking if you're into that sort of thing (And I know you E users are)

Rich Cannings wrote in to let us know that Steve Byrne has released the JDK 1.1.5 Linux port. Snag it over at Blackdown. They have libc5 and glibc versions as well as diffs.

Alessandro Vernet wrote in to say "Tim Wilkinson tim@transvirtual.com announced that a new version of Kaffe, the free Java Virtual Machine, will be available in March 1998 with a new license and new AWT (the Java graphic library)." Highlights of the package include Java 1.1 compatibiltiy and a free AWT. Check out this link for more details.

Eric Anderson sent in this link where you can read about Sun's statement filed with the court saying that MS Java is incompatible, and that violates license agreements. This thing needs to be resolved soon if Java is going to have a future that's for sure.

Andy Tai writes " Sun is pushing Javasoft, its division in charge of Java development, to become profitable. This article analyze potential profit sources for Javasoft, which include embedded systems and consulting. Even though this article says Javasoft won't change its policy on JDKs, how will this pressure change Javasoft's bahavior, and how will this incluence Java on Linux, where Sun cannot expect to get significant license fees from, remain to be seen." Here's the link.

Zooko Journeyman writes " Dave Winer wrote an article suggesting that JavaSoft could open the source to Java. Wednesday he had an e-mail exchange with Bill Joy in which Bill Joy argues against opening the source."

Two weeks after announcing a partnership with TCI, Sun Microsystems has announced its long awaited major Java partner. Motorola, has licensed the "full family of Java platform technologies" for its embedded products.

Netscape was the second major company (after Sun) to go crazy with Java. According to this story though they are now one of the first to back out. Escalating development costs and the huge number of platforms are the reasons. The real question is now what the Free Software guys are going to do about it. If Java is more than a web widget maker, then it will be back.

Aaron writes "Joe Lindström wrote this Java applet that causes Windows 95 machines to crash. It is especially vulnerable to slower machines. The applet creates alot of different threads (processes) and then runs them all. This is way too many threads for Win95 to handle, therefore locking up the system. I snagged this off of Bugtraq. You may find the source code here."