Question:
I am conducting a study of operating system capabilities to support desktop videoconferencing.Would Java be a good Operating System for this purpose?
Answer:
Java itself is not an operating system, althoughSun Microsystems has created an operatingsystem called JavaOS which can lead to someconfusion. In response to your question, Ido not believe that Java is yet an adequateplatform on which to implement computationallyintensive applications such as videoconferencing.If you were to do so, you would likely have toimplement most of your code as native methods,in which case it does not make much sense touse Java. In the future Java may be betterable to process real time audio and video streamsat the rates necessary to provide usablevideoconferencing. Currently, Java is bettersuited for processing pre-recorded audio andvideo streams and for implementing networkapplications where the largest source of delayis the network.
