More flexible security. Today, by placing tight restrictions on the actions any Java program can perform, Java protects against potentially harmful network applications. We're working with Sun to develop a method for signing Java applets that will provide a flexible, capability-based security model. This will allow users and administrators to grant specific capabilities to individual applications, such as writing or erasing data, and accessing other computers and non-Java programs. Building on these Java advances, network-based applications will become ubiquitous because Java applications live neither on your desktop nor on a single server, but become part of the network.
Applications merge with content and can be provided as a service over the network.
Dynamic user interfaces access every application on the network, all from a simple point and click. A salesperson, for example, might use a single account management application that does everything from simple order tracking to presenting custom demonstrations. Frequently used code sits on the client, with a voluminous store of additional application logic available on a server at headquarters and replicated out into the field for convenient access. To the user, it just works. Most of the building blocks for these types of applications are here today - it's just a matter of time until they're widely implemented.