Right alongside its demonstration of Java on the mainframe last week, IBM Corp went to the other extreme and showed its version of Java for Windows 3.1, aimed at all those users hungry for Java but determined not to upgrade to Windows95. It’s a job Microsoft Corp declined. Here IBM is swimming against the tide and is working on a fully 16-bit, rather than the current 32-bit, version, in order to speed up performance. It has had difficulty adapting Java’s multi-threading model and long file name support. Currently in alpha test, the software has won its first licensee in FTP Software Inc. IBM is considering whether to focus on licensing deals or package it as a product.
