After analyzing IBM's large and varied customer base, it became obvious that business logic would need to talk across the Internet to PCs, servers, mainframes, and other platforms and devices not yet invented. A product or services catalog would then pop up, provided by the business logic. Stock would be checked and a note would be sent back to the customer, explaining when to expect the shipment. IBM believes that serving the entire enterprise is Java's future. Once achieved, Java will be the dominant Internet platform.
Some challenges still lie ahead, however.
Other work remains, such as security and reuse issues and developing a high performance JVM to handle short and repetitive transactions. Many applications require their systems to be down only a few minutes per year, and Java is still nowhere near handling that capability. There is also the potential for the proliferation of different Java flavors, making compatibility more difficult, which is similar to what happened with Unix. Hebner has expressed concern about Java's future. If Java becomes a control or choke point to open standards in the future, then this is not what it was originally all about.