ABSTRACT
All of this was to be enabled by a programming language, Java, that would work on any operating system or computing platform. In addition, this language could be used to deliver to client machines the program and data elements (in the form of a Java applet) that the client needed to use at any given time. Companies envisioned desktops equipped with Internet appliances that would not need to contain expensive copies of application programs such as word processors and spreadsheets. It is little wonder that corporations were ready to embrace both the Internet and Java, and to build such high expectations about these technologies. These expectations have not died. Many corporate executives and managers expect these technologies to drive economic growth well into the next century.
