[GEEK] Java Web Start {again}

There's another flame- up on the WebStart commentary on the web, this time under the title _" Webstart, now I see why people don't use it." _Even though I've spoken out about this once or twice, I couldn't resist weighing in.Here's what I wrote:

I have written so much about this in Blogs, newsgroups, etc that I won't rehash it here; however I will put some links below for those who are interested. My Bottom lines:

  • WebStart is a very promising (I would call it tantalizingly close) approach. The problem is that when you are trying to get people to use your application, the one place where you need to be super robust is in the install and setup and initial user experience, which is exactly where WebStart falls down.

  • The BlogBridge project is a major cross platform application that uses Java Web Start. Today there have been thousands of installation. Of the people that have any kind of installation or startup problem, 9 out of 10 are Webstart related. Try BlogBridge's Web Start experience for yourself.

  • Java Web Start is not a solid solution for a cross platform java application that you intend to deploy widely (on the internet not just internally where you can handhold each user)

  • BlogBridge will be abandoning WebStart in the next release with Great Regret.

  • IMHO Sun is acting contrary to their strategic goals (as stated) by not paying sufficient attention to a major hurdle to succeeding on the desktop and their progress on this front is so slow it's absurd.

  • Sun has heard lots of highly specific technical explanations of where the problems are and what the impact is and they say they understand but don't act on it.

Here are some links where I wrote about this in the past. I am but one voice in dozens. Click to read: