How x86 turned into Java

A ZDNet column talks about the promise of Java and how Linux works into the issue. “Like anyone who’s paying a modicum of attention, I know that Linux compiles readily on many
different processor architectures and hardware configurations. But that doesn’t make the slightest
bit of difference if application vendors making non-open-source software for Linux decide that
Linux-on-x86 is the only ‘real’ Linux.

This is a vexing problem, since one of the great hope of Linux’s portability was that it would level
the playing field for the many non-x86 processors out there. Instead, the playing field has stayed
roughly the same, but new playing fields in the embedded space have been created where
Linux-NOT-on-x86 has flourished.”