Wow, a blast from the past! 1996, what a year that was.
Sun was freaking out about Microsoft, and announced Java Beans as their vaporware "alternative" to ActiveX. JavaScript had just come onto the scene, then Netscape announced they were going to reimplement Navigator in Java, so they dove into the deep end and came up with IFC, which designed by NeXTStep programmers. A bunch of the original Java team left Sun and formed Marima, and developed the Castanet network push distribution system, and the Bongo user interface editor (like HyperCard for Java, calling the Java compiler incrementally to support dynamic script editing).
https://people.apache.org/~jim/NewArchitect/webtech/1997/10/...
While I was working at Interval Research Corporation in 1996, after playing around with and reading over the source code and documentation, I wrote up a deep comparison and analysis of Internet Foundation Classes (IFC) versus Marimba Bongo (which was written by Arthur van Hoff, who worked on Java, wrote AWT, and before Java wrote another user interface system for NeWS similar to Bongo and HyperCard in PostScript, called HyperLook), and other related user interface component technologies.
https://donhopkins.com/home/interval/ifc-vs-bongo.html
>This is a comparison of two component frameworks for Java, IFC and Bongo.
>IFC (Internet Foundation Classes) is from NetScape, and is similar NeXTStep, which was written in Objective C. It was written by some former NeXT developers, whose company NetScape bought because they needed a Java toolkit.
>Bongo is from Marimba, and is similar to HyperLook, which was written in NeWS object oriented PostScript. Marimba was founded by some of the original Sun Java developers, who left Sun to form their own company.
[That also compares IFC with Microsoft's ActiveX/OLE/COM/MIDL stuff, and gets into some Java/JavaBeans/J++/CORBA/OpenDoc politics, and includes some comments by Arthur about IFC, AWT, Bongo, JDK 1.1, etc.]
Here's a later article I wrote about HyperLook (that article is still a work in progress, since I haven't finished the comparison to HyperCard and Bongo):
https://medium.com/@donhopkins/hyperlook-nee-hypernews-nee-g...
During 1996 I also wrote up a wide ranging survey of the interesting component, plug-in, user interface toolkit, and application framework technology at the time:
https://donhopkins.com/home/interval/pluggers
An Overview of Plug-In Technology circa March 1996
Don Hopkins, Interval Research Corporation
Index: Requirements Problems Companies Platforms Languages
Software Research
Our Plug-In Requirements
Somebody Else's Problems
Companies
Platforms
Languages
Software
Research
TODO
https://donhopkins.com/home/interval/pluggers/problems.html
Somebody Else's Problems
These are problems that we aren't trying to solve, and that a lot of other people are. We should try to take advantage of other peoples work, instead of re-inventing the wheel.
the component object framework problem (Open Doc, OLE, COM)
the distributed object problem (CORBA, Electric Communities)
the application framework problem (Galaxy, MFC)
the programming language problem (Java and other languages)
the multimedia library problem (ScriptX, QuickTime, DirectX)
the garbage collection problem (COM, Java, ScriptX)
the window system toolkit problem (HyperLook, Java AWT, MFC)
the development environment problem (Metrowerks, MSDEV, Visual Basic)
the web browser problem (NetScape, CyberDog, Explorer)
the database problem (DAO, ODBC, Oracle)
the image editor problem (Photoshop, Premier)
the multimedia 8 track tape player problem (Director)
the killer app problem (Lotus 123, SimCity)
the operating system problem (Windows 95, Netscape)
the pointless standard problem (VRML, COSE)
or any combination of the above (TCL/Tk, ScriptX, NetScape)
Software index:
https://donhopkins.com/home/interval/pluggers/software.html
Netscape Navigator:
https://donhopkins.com/home/interval/pluggers/navigator.html
Java:
https://donhopkins.com/home/interval/pluggers/java.html
OLE:
https://donhopkins.com/home/interval/pluggers/ole.html
COM:
https://donhopkins.com/home/interval/pluggers/com.html
MediaFlow design discussion, retrospective, and comparisons with other visual programming languages:
https://donhopkins.com/home/interval/mediaflow-design.html
Freaky Putty:
From the Netscape page:
> NetScape plans to be a cross platform virtual operating system, and has embraced Java as its primary extension language in the long term, even though JavaScript (completely different language than Java) is getting a lot of cycles and attention in the short term.
I guess that short term turned out to be a lot longer than anyone anticipated :-D
Ha ha! Yes, the launch of Javagator was a lot like watching the Space Shuttle Challenger blow up.
Such glorious plans they had, then Sun and Netscape started bickering about who was going to be on top...
But Rhino, Mozilla and Phoenix eventually rose from the ashes of the Javagator Disaster.
December 30, 1997: Netscape sharpens Javagator plans
https://www.cnet.com/news/netscape-sharpens-javagator-plans/
>The Internet software company says it will have an all-Java browser ready for network computers and other clients by July.
>[...] Although bandied about by company executives and in the press, the term "Javagator" is strictly slang. The official code name for the browser is Maui, Gong said.
>[...] Moreover, Netscape's move to develop a pure Java browser will put the company's long-standing cross-platform mantra to the test. The extent of the pure Java browser's technological success and market acceptance will most likely serve as a temperature gauge for other developers looking to test the Java waters.
February 25, 1998: Netscape puts Javagator "on hold"
https://www.itprotoday.com/windows-78/netscape-puts-javagato...
>As expected, Netscape has put plans for its 100% Pure Java version of Navigator, dubbed "Javagator", "on hold". The company is hoping that an industry heavyweight with lots of cash--such as Sun or IBM--will finance the project or simply take it off their hands.
February 26, 1998: Netscape's Java browser in doubt
https://www.zdnet.com/article/netscapes-java-browser-in-doub...
>Netscape Communications Corp. , still refining its client strategies, has put development of its Pure Java browser - dubbed Javagator - "on hold."
>[...] Javagator was rumored to be a dead project early this year; however, Netscape officials at the January announcement of the company's source-code release plans said it was still an ongoing project.
Well at least that panned out! ;)
February 26, 1998: Whither Crawls Netscape's Javagator?
https://www.wired.com/1998/02/whither-crawls-netscapes-javag...
[You know a rumor's true when they vigorously DENY it in upper case!]
>NETSCAPE OFFICIALS DENIED a report in the computer trade press today that the company has suspended work on Javagator, the nickname for Netscape's all-Java version of its Navigator browser. But their comments shed little light on the future of the special browser project.
>"Nothing has changed," said Netscape spokeswoman Andrea Cook, referring to the company's position on the project, officially codenamed Maui.
>[...] Sources close to Netscape say that during formation of the company's plans to release its source code, there was a professed desire to suspend Javagator's development, but partner companies dissuaded the company from doing so.
>IBM representatives confirm that it and other companies with interest in the success of network computers (NC) are reviewing Netscape's call for help in the funding and development of Javagator.
>[...] There has long been speculation that the Maui project was being de-emphasized at Netscape, partly due to the cool reception of NCs in the market.
>"We've anticipated it for the simple reason that there's no money in browsers and that Netscape has released a free source version of Communicator," said Forrester's Schadler. "The only place you can run a Javagator today is on an NC - and there ain't none."
>[...] With the announcement that it would begin free distribution of its browser software and source code, the company also said it would stop developing the Java Virtual Machine for its browser. But there are financial justifications to cut non-critical projects like Javagator, too, after the company suffered a a US$88 million, fourth-quarter loss in 1997.
>Schadler said Netscape has to turn over Javagator development, at least as a separate subsidiary, for the added reason that continuing the project in-house undermines the plan to free its source code, starting with Communicator 5.0.
>"The nightmare to the [Communicator 5.0] development community is the prospect of Netscape developing another code base," Schadler said. The company has to show commitment solely to the Communicator code that developers would be contributing too, he said.
April 3, 1998: Will Javagator be reborn as Jazilla?
https://www.wired.com/1998/04/will-javagator-be-reborn-as-ja...
>A LOOSE COLLECTION of Java enthusiasts from around the world have seized upon Netscape's recent release of Communicator 5 source code, and are busily hacking away on Jazilla – a Java-based version of the browser.
>The news comes just weeks after Netscape and Sun Microsystems acknowledged that they were seeking partners to take over "Javagator," a proposed 100-percent-pure Java version of Netscape's browser. Now, eager developers have taken matters into their own hands and are porting the Netscape C++ code, called Mozilla, to Java.
>[...] "The Javagator project didn't go very well, so this is a reincarnation of that – we've had email back and forth with the people who worked on it, and they explained all of their challenges," said Rodd.
>"The reason [Javagator] failed was organizational – it wasn't a priority," said Rodd.
Fortunately, Netscape's Java Rhino JavaScript engine managed to make it out into the world:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhino_(JavaScript_engine)
>The Rhino project was started at Netscape in 1997. At the time, Netscape was planning to produce a version of Netscape Navigator written fully in Java and so it needed an implementation of JavaScript written in Java. When Netscape stopped work on Javagator, as it was called, the Rhino project was finished as a JavaScript engine. Since then, a couple of major companies (including Sun Microsystems) have licensed Rhino for use in their products and paid Netscape to do so, allowing work to continue on it.
Javascript Jabber: 124 JSJ The Origin of Javascript with Brendan Eich
https://dev.to/adventuresinangular/aia-206-the-origin-of-jav...
https://devchat.cachefly.net/javascriptjabber/transcript-124...
Brendan Eich:
And Netscape had acquired a company called Digital Styles that was known for rendering engines of some kind. And they started doing a next-generation engine in ’97 I think based on Java. And they thought, Netscape’s doing the Javagator, Netscape and Sun are going to kill Windows, Java’s going to be the future on the client side. Let’s build a Java engine. When Java got the plug pulled from it in late ’97, when the Electrical Fire JVM that Waldemar Horwat was building at Netscape got cancelled, when Sun went away because Netscape was basically going out of business slowly, the team that was doing this Java engine, this Java web engine, rendering engine called Raptor said, “Oh, we better rewrite it in,” maybe it was called Xena, I forget. They said, “We better rewrite it in C++.” And then they said, “Let’s sell it to Mozilla.”
The last bit is interesting. I hadn't heard of the Electrical Fire JVM and was wondering how they could possibly think that implementing the browser in Java could ever be practical, with its horrible performance at the time - but the answer is apparently that Netscape were writing their own JVM with a JIT compiler?