Web apps promised to deliver the digital nirvana of "write once, run anywhere, " meaning you don't need a different website for a PC and a Mac.

WSJ: Design Freedom Eludes Mobile Web

Sun Microsystems' write-once-run-anywhere programming language is expected to grow from an installed base of 3.8 million digital cable boxes in 1998 to 12 million boxes by year 2001, according to International Data Corp. (IDC), a Framingham, Mass.

FORBES: Will there be Java everywhere?

Write an Android application once and it will run anywhere.

FORBES: Magazine Article