Is Android really going to fragment Java?
Sun is apparently all up in arms about Google’s non-use of JavaME. There has even been comparisons to the days of Microsoft’s VM and fragmenting Java. I find the whole concern rather amusing. First, with regards to Microsoft’s VM, it did not implement Swing and RMI, favoring MFC and COM thus making it incompatible as a Java SE virtual machine. Second, Google’s vm is meant specifically for mobile handsets, and by all appearances is not limited to a subset API like JavaME is.
Compatibility
First, Dalvik isn’t a Java implementation. The fact that class files are further compiled down to .dex files for Dalvik should be irrelevant, as long as everything works the way it should. This is no different than having Java run on chip or something similar. If Dalvik wants a more efficient format, so be it.
Speaking of compatibility, has anyone tried running WebSphere on anything other than an IBM VM? Last time I tried it wouldn’t work. How compatible is that, and why isn’t Sun complaining to big blue? Or even better, try getting an app to communicate from a Sun VM to an IBM one via RMI. Won’t work.
Licensing
Then there are the rumbles about whether Android and the VM is open source. Quite frankly, who cares. If it runs across a wide range of VMs and Google doesn’t do anything stupid like kick out certain applications from running, then what does it matter that it is or isn’t open source?
The Fear
Like a lot of people I believe Google took a look at the JCP and said “to hell with that” and bypassed the very unfriendly nature of the JCP. Add to that developers haven’t been so eager to work with JavaME, but I would be that a whole bunch jump onto the Android platform, all to the benefit of both developers and those carriers that will sell Android enabled phones.
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hi there,
well said.
But this action from Google has potential to steal Billions from Sun(which is why they didn’t GPL (with classpath extension) the J2ME).
I haven’t heard anything official from Sun yet. Otherwise, I feel that Sun should get some returns for all the investments it has made to Java over the years.
Google has, over the years, benefitted a lot from Java. Without verifying the facts of what transpired between Google and Sun, we cannot say that Google acted with Malice or selfishness. So, it will be interesting to see some comments from Sun.
Are they going to start a new version of Java ME that will rival that of android ? How long will that take ?
Interesting times, indeed.
BR,
~A