Gosling on creating Java: Like 'science fiction'

Sun Microsystems' James Gosling, who initiated and led a project code-named Green that eventually became Java, talked to CNET News.com this week about how the technology became a fixture in the computer realm. During the Green project days, Gosling said his team talked a lot about the long-distance future and wrote up scenarios, but couldn't have predicted their work's significance in what was to come.

"For me, it was more an exercise in science fiction. You never really know which way the world is going to go," he said. "You get moderately good at reading the way the wind is blowing and forecasting technology, but there's a long distance between speculating and believing it would happen." Click here for the full interview.