Customers were chatting this week about Java in the business environment: whether this language has a place in creating applications and clients for enterprises. The consensus on the HP 3000 newsgroup is that the language once touted as "write once, run anywhere" has already earned its stripes across the world.

That's the biggest reason, perhaps, that Java is in sore need of updating on the HP 3000. In yet another project where HP's forthcoming open source white paper can help, Java needs to be rejuvenated from a 2000 version last updated by Mike Yawn, the 3000 division lab expert who was the Java go-to guy for years.

Yawn even made it a point to report on the Java One conference for several years. HP laid him off, more than once, until finally this superior technical resource landed at Quicken, expanding his reach beyond your venerated HP 3000 system.

Even though Yawn is probably out of reach now, Java improvements are another mission that an independent lab effort could tackle if interest and income could be tied to the technology. It's easy to see how this language that HP announced with great gusto for the 3000 in 1997 can make development easier a decade later. Mark Wonsil, a sharp developer with XML and Web savvy reported on Java's bounty

I have written Java programs for database access across multiple platforms. Type 4 JDCB drivers require no licensing on the machine that you’re on, so I was able to access SQL Server and Oracle at the same time - without using ODBC - very cool.