Running Java-based applications on a network computer (NC) may be more practical than you think, at least judging from early release code downloaded from Corel Corp.'s Web site last week.

On Corel's public invitation, we pulled down a prebeta - actually alpha - version of its Office for Java application suite and ran it in stand-alone mode within Web browsers and a Java applet viewer on different PCs.

While it is still a little rough around the edges, the package leads us to believe that you will not lose a great deal of functionality by moving to NC clients. What remains to be seen is the type of performance you can expect when running scaled-down versions of Windows-based packages on an NC that needs to work over Internet or intranet links with server-based code, something we opted not to pursue given the early nature of this code.

The suite comes with Java-based versions of WordPerfect, Quattro Pro, and Personal Information Manager (PIM). All three have a look and feel similar to their Windows-based counterparts - the exception being that WordPerfect and Quattro Pro lack drop-down menu items.

We ran the suite using Netscape Communications Corp.'s Navigator 3.01 on a 100-MHz 80486-based machine with Windows 95 and a Pentium-based PC with Windows NT Workstation 4.0. We also used the applet viewer in Sun Microsystems, Inc.'s Java Development Kit (JDK) 1.02 on the Pentium machine.

Even though Corel made no public mention that the code would run under Microsoft Corp.'s Explorer 3.01, we tried it anyway. We were not able to get either the WordPerfect or Quattro Pro modules to execute.

On the 486 machine, it was easy to get way ahead of the program and then have to wait for it to catch up, primarily due to processor speed. Running under Sun's JDK on the Pentium proved dramatically different, with performance not much different than the Windows-based version of WordPerfect.

The current Java version of WordPerfect is missing the speller and thesaurus, but most of the normal word processing features execute reasonably well. Some functions, however, have fixed options. For instance, the zoom feature has fixed values of 50%, 75%, 100%, 150% and 200%. Your choice of fonts is also limited to Courier, Helvetica and Times Roman. Corel will need a broader range of zoom options and fonts - but perhaps not the full set you'd get in the Windows-based WordPerfect - if it is to get users to move from a PC to an NC.

One key feature that worked well was the ability to insert a component such as a Quattro Pro spreadsheet, or chart right into a WordPerfect document.

The Quattro Pro module seemed to have a more complete feature set. For instance, there is a wizard that leads you through adding a specific function to your spreadsheet, and most of the zoom sizes and fonts in the Windows-based product were in the Java version. The PIM was the most complete of the three with drop-down text menus.

With Office for Java, Corel has established the fact that Java-based productivity tools can be practical. It remains to be seen if Corel can move the software into production release and meet shipping deadlines without eliminating key features. If it does, you can add one more item to the list of reasons for switching to NCs.

Source: Network World