Initially seen as a way to enhance web pages, Java was soon talked of as a lingua franca for computers: small programs, called applets, written in Java would be distributed via the Internet and downloaded to run on any computer, regardless of operating system.

ECONOMIST: Sun and Microsoft

Sun's Jini OS project aims to simplify the integration of Java-enabled devices by allowing the devices to automatically send small applets to each other.

CNN: Appliances get smart