Item Subject: WWW/JAVA and the DCE compared
 
Eric writes:
>  DCE PROBLEM #5:  If you want to perform OLTP across several servers
>located on several different platforms and have integrity, how would you do
>it?  First,   time is synchronized between platforms using DCE Distributed
>Time Service (DTS).  Then add another layer called ENCINA transaction
>monitor.
 
>  JAVA #5:  Downfall.  You wouldn't support this model (or could you)?
>WWW/JAVA would be tied to a single large mainframe with super scalar CPU's
>instead of many machines located at many nodes.
 
If you need a distributed transaction and DCE can do it, then why not
simply call DCE from Java?  There's no reason why you couldn't do
a complete DCE RPC implementation in Java.  Also, the Java API is very young
at this point and may very well include either DCE functionality or something
equivalent in the future.  Of course if you need ENCINA too...
 
On the other hand, Java applets are inherently Client/Sever, and you have to
decide whether you really want anything other than the user interface running
on an untrusted client where someone can trivially decompile your applet and
change its behavior without you knowing it.  So perhaps you don't want DCE
from Java (or Image calls for that matter), but you just want your Java
applet to be a user interface that talks to a server where the meat of the
application is running (where you have control over it).  The code on the
server will be able to use DCE, ENCINA, or any other service it likes, and
you can trust it to enforce your security requirements (something you can
never do in client software).
 
G.