Java making inroads, but Europe likes HTML

June 9, 1998 — Use of Sun Microsystems Inc.’s Java programming language for applications for the World Wide Web will skyrocket over the next two years, according to a new survey by Strategic Focus Inc.

“There’s going to be a significant increase of the percentage of Web-based applications using Java,” said Jay Prakash, president of Strategic Focus, a market research firm in Milpitas, CA.

In the U.S., there will be a 138 percent increase in Java-based Web applications, from 14.6 percent of applications today to 34.8 percent of applications in two years, Prakash said. In Europe — namely the U.K., Germany and France — the percentage will rise 70 percent, he said.

However, in spite of Java’s gains in Europe, HTML will remain the language of choice for European Web-based applications — rising in two years’ time to 33.8 percent of applications, compared to 22.1 percent for Java, according to Prakash.

“HTML in Europe is by far the number one language today,” he said. “It’s going to suffer a significant decline over the next two years, but it will still be number one.”

Although the Europeans are united in their use of HTML over Java, there are still significant technological differences among the countries of Germany, France, and the U.K., said Prakash.

“Germany is by far much stronger in the use of these technologies — Web and Java — than France and the U.K.” he said.

Strategic Focus based its conclusions on surveys from 200 respondents in the U.S. who were contacted through the mail and 450 respondents in Europe who were contacted on the telephone, Prakash said.

Source: www.infoworld.com