Sun claims that purity is a worthwhile goal for Java programming. But that's true only in certain circumstances. If you want to create a Java applet for a World Wide Web site that's visited by many people who have many different computers, go the pure Java route. With properly configured browsers, all of them can use your applet. But if you're developing applications for a government intranet for which most workers have similarly configured systems, it's reasonable to try any trick in the book to get better response and function.
Purity is strictly a virtue in the mind of the beholder.
A similar war is raging over the latest crop of network computers. There are three camps. The biggest is all those users who think the idea of NCs replacing the ubiquitous desktop PC is not only silly but disempowering. The second camp includes Oracle Corp. chairman Larry Ellison and others who support anything that challenges Microsoft's office dominance. This camp wants to see centrally managed NCs that roughly conform to reference profiles agreed upon by IBM Corp., Netscape Communications Corp., Oracle, Apple and Sun.