Thanks to all who contribute to this interesting topic;
Reading about the Java based data-flow programming initiative
(...have a look here http://www.jpaulmorrison.com/fbp/cmr.htm - thanks Jim Kring )
I suspect that the only reason they are not also sued is that
it's not capable of any serious (comercially viable) competition, at least for the moment.
The concept however seems to indicate one more time that essentially
data-flow was known and used way before LabVIEW (LV) was developed.
But it's not only the data-flow graphical programming that makes LV attractive, in my opinion,
it's also the easy interface with the I/O and the collection of directly useable examples
included in the distribution (as well as many other chunks of reusable code available for free).
SoftWIRE (SW) did a good job, apparently, when it comes to drivers.
I didn