Its Open

Three years ago Sun Microsystems took its first tentative steps into the
swirling waters of open source software, having decided that it made better
sense to join em rather than fight em. That hesitant foot in the water seems
to have prompted a full scale immersion: At the largest single gathering of Java
geeks this yearthe annual Sun Tech Days 2009 in HyderabadJames Gosling, the
creator of Java, was greeted with a standing ovation and excited screams,
normally reserved in India for bollywood stars, from a 5,000-strong audience of
under 25, when he announced that Java was now fully open source.

But after a decade of carefully regulating Javas precise programming
footprint, old habits die hardand Goslings comment that there would be no
compromise on quality was a reminder that Sun was not about to cast its baby
into the wilder reaches of open source. It was still mulling over which OS
licensing scheme it would adoptthe Free Software Foundations GPLv3 was the
most likely candidateand would continue to keep a doting parental eye on its
creation through the Java Community Process.

There are over 10 bn Java devices out there, Gosling reminds, half of them
smart cards, another 3 bn in cell phones, and every week sees 15 mn free
downloads of the Java Runtime Environment (JRE), 5 mn of Glassfish, the Java
application server and 8 mn of Netbeans, the Java development kit. Every other
Indian software developer, which means around 8 lakh, is a Java programmer; so
this represents a sizable chunk of the human resource on which Sun is banking on
to take Java on the road to ubiquitous computing, Gosling adds.

Java is Not Slow

He also dispels some myths about Java that have persisted: that because it
is an interpreted code, it is slow. As the guy who helped create Java, he
assures young programmers that in truth, it is highly optimized; usually beats C
or C ++ in speed tests like Linpack and even Fortran in scientific applications.
Java was always designed to make C and C++ users feel comfortable. But lets
face it, the magic is in the Java Virtual Machine, not in the coding, he says.

With mobile phones outselling PCs, five to one, Java and cell phones are made
for each otherwhich is why they now offer JSR 248-MSA, the new Mobile Services
Architecture. And to bring to all Java platforms ( including phones) the rich
Internet application that games freaks have got used to having, JavaFX 1.0 is
now out, promising the write once, work anywhere programming environment for
browser, desktop and mobile.

He holds up an Oystercard of the London transportation system, a smart device
that enables smooth transit through bus and train controlsand Amazons Kindle
e-book readerboth fueled by Java. It will become the technology that touches
all lives at all times because it is good at tying legacy and new systems
together it has incredible ubiquity because among other things, there are NO
Java viruses, he says.

In mid-March Sun is scheduled to announce a Public Cloudits first offering
in the burgeoning virtual business initiative, known as cloud computingputting
what it believes is its own unique spin: a developer friendly resource where one
can find a choice of operating systems, programming languages and tools and
server/storage to host any applications one might create. It will be a Java
Cloud, with freebie services for the lay user and pay-by use hybrid and
private clouds for enterprise.

Back on the terra firma of physical desktops, though, Java is yet to make the
essential breakthrough that will see it compete with proprietary mass consumer
offerings like Windows. I dont like it, but thats how it is nowits a Catch
22 situation, says Gosling the realist, It will be a long time before Java or
any other open source system can offer the wealth of applications and tools that
ride on Windows. An Impossible Dream? He should have said it in his keynoteit
is just the sort of dare that might inspire some, at least of Indias best and
brightest Java geeks who believe there is nothing like impossible in the
dictionary of software, it only takes a little longer.

Anand Parthasarathy

maildqindia@cybermedia.com

The author is a veteran tech journalist