Friday August 15, 2008
Makeovers for Java ME applications
Filed under: javame opensource
One
of my Top
10 Rich Client things from JavaOne this year was the Java ME Lightweight UI Toolkit
(LWUIT). And the team just open
sourced it yesterday.
If you're looking for a quick and
easy way to add some
fit and finish to a Java ME mobile application for use on the version of Java ME that
is deployed today on billions of
devices, you need to check it out.It takes some of the familiar core ideas of Swing - some of the widgets, layouts, themes - and shrinkwraps them into something good looking, powerful, small and easy to get started with.
See it in action for yourself.
Posted by dannycoward ( Aug 15 2008, 12:17:59 PM PDT ) Permalink Comments [4]
Monday November 13, 2006
Java ME, SE and EE: Open Source, Open Source and, yes Open Source
Filed under: javame opensource
We've been climbing
this particular mountain for a number of years now (since I was a small
child, it seems). Many have been impatient
for us to reach the top for a quite some time. Our bosses passed us
the flag to plant at JavaOne. We finally took
the hint and did a press
event as the summit came into view in August. Given that there is
so little surprise left in what Sun
is announcing today, it still feels momentous and more than a
little
delicious to get to the top and look out at the view:Has there ever been a larger single donation of source code into open source before ?
The source for all three of our Java platform implementations: Java ME, Java SE and Java EE are going out under GPLv2. (Yes, the licence the Linux community uses.)
Blink.
That's the view from the top !
In the JDK team, we're open sourcing the javac compiler
and Hotspot today, on the new OpenJDK website, with the
rest to follow next year. There's plenty of scaffolding holding things
up for now. If you're not already busy in the JCP working
on the API
specifications for Java SE, come join us in as the
infrastructure and governance model takes shape for our implementation
for Java SE over the next few months.PS. Yes, Java EE's implementation Glassfish was already open source, so now its doubly so :-)
Posted by dannycoward ( Nov 13 2006, 12:02:05 AM PST ) Permalink Comments [6]
Friday August 18, 2006
Open Source Java SE: Who gives a fig ?
Filed under: opensource
Who cares ? Five days after our announcement on Monday, I felt it was time to digest the reactions around the Java world to the news.
Missed opportunity for word playI was all geared up for a slew of press headlines marrying 'Sun' with some combination of 'rise', 'set', 'shine', 'burn', 'spot' or 'screen'. And, you know, a graphic of a sun cresting over a choppy sea full of joyous penguins or something.
But instead we've had a real treat of a large number of articles that mostly accurately represent the plan we announced on Monday. For example: CNET, Internetnews, eWeek, TecnNewsWorld, DevX, all with sober headlines.
(OK, one of them couldn't resist.)
You did ask...
Much of the complexity in Sun making this move is for us
to do so in a responsible manner with regard to to the other vendors
who have embraced Java technology. I imagine BEA will be pleased at
this latest news given their past
beseechings, and current 'blended
strategy' on Open Source (chirp...). A hasty reaction
from some folks from IBM
appears to have been mostly made facing
upwind, except for some free product feedback
they got. More helpfully, and critical to our getting this right, have been some very constructive assessments and advice from people like Geir, Dalibor and Tom who really know this stuff because they have or are working on open source implementations of Java SE already.
OK, but just don't break it for us
For me, the most interesting reactions have been those from Java developers. Perhaps in the long anticipation of this completion of opening up the development of the Java platform codebases, much of the heat and fire has been dissapated. So I have to say that the volume of debate in the fora that I have been following has not eclipsed other burning issues of the day. But the reactions appear to have been largely focussed on the mechanics of rolling out the
program, rather than on its merits. Though of course
there are some colorful
exceptions. Debates on the central issue of the choice
of licence appear as a popular
discussion point, though there does not appear to be a consensus.
My own suspicion as to why being that the consequences of the choice
are complex to divine. Law school anyone ? There have been a couple of sinister
theories that I probably won't lose any sleep about, and some misinformation
about Java EE [Update: That got corrected since I posted this]. And there I was, thinking everyone knew that our
implementation is already
open source. But I was happy to see that one of the potential
benefits that Java SE will go
where no Java SE has gone
before, is being discussed by others too.
Of course, what I suspect many developers feel on this topic is
indifference to mild concern: that they do not care how Java is made,
but just that
it's there
and that it
works. No surprise then that there are some
worries that it might not. We do well to keep them at the front of our minds.
Posted by dannycoward ( Aug 18 2006, 03:07:38 PM PDT ) Permalink Comments [2]
Monday August 14, 2006
Open Source: Cutting the Java SE apron strings
Filed under: opensource
Like any parent watching a child leave home for college, Sun appears to have had mixed feelings about the imminent (early 2007, to be precise) departure of its Java SE JDK
from its closed source home. Conceived in vitro, from baby steps in a new playground,
through child prodigy, with firm friendships,
and being no more trouble than some bullying at
school, Sun's prodigal child is at last standing in the doorway
ready to leave home. Just as the opinions of the Java Community
within Sun have been mixed, so have those in the wider Java Community,
although for many developers just trying to get their applications
written, they don't care
how Java is made so long as it works.
Of course some of the most recent steps in Java
SE's ten year progress into into the Wide Open World (with an eye to
its bigger sibling Java EE)
have done much to soften the blow to those who would keep it home
longer.
Much of the anxiety about open sourcing Java SE has been expressed has
been in terms of the risk of
loss of
compatibility. Which, for a technology with a complex
network of commercial and non-commercial entities depending on it,
that are able to interact as only effectively as the level of their
mutual
agreement of what it is, would be the worst outcome. Which argues for
perfecting this Matrix of
agreements. Yet keeping the screws too tight around the system could cause a slowing of innovation, and the
vital
ability of Java to flex and morph quickly enough in its ecosystem to remain relevant.
The film buffs amongst you doubtless know that any human/machine system needs some measure of chaos to remain viable, and that an overprotective mother can lead to a very unwelcoming motel.
Thankfully, Jonathan and Rich simplified our dilemma at JavaOne this year by announcing that yes we're doing it (at last). As one of
the many people at Sun working on the various and
several aspects of open sourcing Java SE, I'm telling you we're busy
packing the trunk and working through our To Do list, which we're pinning
to the front door for all the neighbors to see, to make sure the
strapping adult we have all helped in some way to grow gets the best
start possible.
For myself, I can't wait to see if completing this step of transparency of development process will produce something unexpected and delightful around or within the Java SE JDK. Just as making it easy to post video clips has created unexpected new stars in our consciousness.
If you want to watch us check off the items on our list over the next few months in the countdown to our release of a full buildable version early in 2007 of the JDK under an open source licence (nearly all, think swiss cheese), stick around here. Or better still bookmark the new Java SE Open Source site.
Oh, and can you guess which pieces we're going to open up before Christmas ? (hint: Hotspot and javac)
Posted by dannycoward ( Aug 14 2006, 05:32:58 PM PDT ) Permalink Comments [2]
