Sure, Java is a computer language. But Java has become something more. It could change the whole idea of what computing is about, the way the personal computer did in the 1980s, analysts say. The Java buzz is going far beyond the computer industry.
Neighbors talk about it on street corners.
CEOs are asking whether their companies should be doing something with Java, even if they don't know what. In San Francisco this week, the buzz has the frenzy of a kicked beehive. About 9,000 software developers have come to learn about Java at the second annual JavaOne conference. If Java is going to live up to its hype, it will start here. Netscape Communications, IBM, Apple Computer and even Microsoft have come, along with entrepreneurs from as far as Melbourne, Australia.