SunSoft Inc – which now calls itself the internet software company – will finally make its Joe 1.0 beta generally available today. Joe – the name comes from American slang for coffee – is the company’s Java Object Request Broker (ORB) and Object Management Group Interface Definition Language (IDL) compiler that will connect applications residing upon the OpenStep-based NEO object-oriented server environment with Java applications via the Common Object Request Broker Architecture, bypassing HTML and CGI scripts. Java applets with Joe do not re-load entire Web pages but send updated information as necessary. Joe, which is downloaded automatically into Web browsers along with Java applets, supports an early version of remote Java communication using the Corba Environment Specific Inter-ORB Protocol for connecting with Sun NEO servers. Eventually Joe will be able to communicate with objects on non-NEO platforms via support for other vendor’s ORBs through the Corba 2.0 Internet Inter-ORB Protocol. NEO includes the Solaris NEO operating system environment, Solstice NEO network and systems management, the Workshop NEO development tools and Joe to support Java client access to remote Neo objects.
