Exclusive It was no surprise that Sun CEO Scott McNealy did not have anything very friendly to say about ActiveX at Cebit in Hannover, but he did have a deft way of characterising the difference between an ActiveX control and a Java applet. "ActiveX is a virus by definition. Sometimes there are good viruses, sometimes there are bad viruses. ActiveX is like putting the controls to your automobile on the outside of you car: it's like putting you brake on the rear bumper, the steering wheel on the side doors, and your trunk opener on the hood. Fundamentally, anybody could walk up and drive it into the ditch, pop the trunk up and steal everything – that's what an ActiveX control is: it's an ActiveX-out-of-control control. It's a virus – that is the design feature, it is not an accident. "The Java platform was designed to be virus-free. ... Microsoft likes to lump Java ActiveX controls with Java applets – that's like the cold virus versus Kleenex. They're two different things. They're both used in the same environment, but one creates the mess and the other cleans up the mess." ®