From the editor

Risk & Insurance, July, 2003

Despite the corporate civility of Sun Microsystems and Microsoft consultants and programmers who delivered PowerPoint presentations vaunting .Net and J2EE architecture at the 75th anniversary of the Insurance Accounting and Systems Association Inc. in Denver last month, make no mistake about it: .Net and J2EE are at war over the future of Web services.

If there's any doubt that these two computing giants aren't above sniping at each other, guess who came up with the expression "dot-not" for .Net or Windows "Not There," for Windows NT?

J2EE, backed by Sun Micro-systems, is designed as an "open architecture" model compatible with multiple computer systems and languages. Microsoft's .Net model, is built around a more proprietary architecture.

If risk managers use Windows, they might be better of with .Net. If risk managers want an architecture more compatible with multiple platforms, J2EE (Java 2nd Edition Enterprise), may be the answer. But don't expect an easy answer from either the whizzes at microsoft or Sun.

As one hapless attendee from a small insurance shop found when he asked which system they might recommend, he was met with a barrage of technical language and a colorful slideshow of "bench-marks" proving the worth of one system over the other.

Readers seeking the opinion of a neutral party, can contact Richard Hoehne IBM at hoehne@us.ibm.com. Be warned, however. Even Big Blue, which is pushing its vision of so-called "on-demand" computing, may have a vested interest in the outcome of the battle between J2EE and .Net

Or insurance companies might try this alternative to the technical conundrum: Lock up your IT techies in a big iron box and invite your business managers, customer service reps, risk managers, and Series-6 sales teams and have them try both systems without telling them which is which.

Now that might get you some-where.

Cyril Tuohy

Managing Editor