Java Beans is the most important new development in Java this year. Beans is the next generation of Java technology that not only adds features the language lacked, but also lets Java programs interoperate with a number of development environments. The initial release includes a bridge for Microsoft's ActiveX/COM; future releases will include bridges for Netscape's LiveConnect and IBM's OpenDoc.Since it's a "component architecture" for Java, Beans can be used in graphical programming environments, like Borland's JBuilder, or IBM's VisualAge for Java. This means that someone can use a...