java

Red Hat, Sun finally buddy up on Java

Sun Microsystems' move to make its core Java software a true open-source project may still be a project in its early stages, but on Monday the effort produced some concrete results: a partnership with long-time holdout Red Hat.

The top Linux seller announced Monday that it's signed an OpenJDK Community agreement, a move that gives it access to the Sun compatibility kit that can be used to ensure a Java software foundation meets requirements to properly run Java software. Although Java has caught on widely in the server market--Red Hat's core customer base--Red Hat shied away from tight … Read more

Will Google fracture or unify mobile Linux?

Forgive me if I appear a little skeptical here about Google's Open Handset Alliance. By my count, it's the fifth consortium so far to attempt to craft something useful for mobile phones out of Linux and open-source software.

OHA has by far the highest profile, it's got the most persuasive list of members, and its timing is the best. What's not yet clear is whether the "Android" work of Google and its allies will unify or further fragment work in the area.

Rallying programmers behind a unified effort could help determine whether this effort will accomplish more than the Linux Phone Standard (Lips) Forum, the Open Source Developer Labs' Mobile Linux Initiative, the Consumer Electronics Linux Forum (CELF), and most recently, the LiMo Foundation begun in 2006. Related efforts one step removed include Intel's Moblin and, Nokia's Maemo, and any number of other open-source projects.

Just as with PCs, somebody has to write a "stack" of software spanning from basic operating system functions all the way through communication utilities, user interfaces and Web browsers. Unlike PCs so far, though, the mobile phone market has suffered from a profusion of incompatible software foundations, despite some efforts to use Linux and Java to bring some common ground.

Red Hat and Sun sign deal to collaborate on Java

Red Hat and Sun Microsystems announced today an agreement to advance open-source Java? software. Red Hat has signed Sun's broad contributor agreement that covers participation in all Sun-led open source projects by all Red Hat engineers.

This is what happens when you get the two biggest open-source companies on the planet. It's what a partnership should look like. It's also a great example of how competitors can compete while still cooperating on baseline technology.

What happens next is anyone's guess, but I think collaboration between the two competitors is a Very Good Thing. Here's what they're up to:

To help foster innovation and advancement of the Java technology ecosystem, Red Hat will also share its developers' contributions with Sun as part of the OpenJDK community. These agreements pave the way for Red Hat to create a fully compatible, open source Java Development Kit (JDK) for Red Hat Enterprise Linux, including the Java Runtime Environment (JRE).… Read more

Want more money? Learn Java or .Net

Web scripting languages like PHP are hot, but it's Java and .Net that pay the bills, according to a new survey by Robert Half Technology's 2008 Salary Guide:

Next year, application developers and senior web developers skilled in Java, Java Enterprise Edition and Microsoft's C# and VisualBasic.NET look likely to have more leverage in salary negotiations and pull in more cash than those armed with Linux, Apache, MySQL and Perl/PHP/Python (LAMP) or AJAX, according to a new salary survey.

IT employment specialist Robert Half Technology's 2008 Salary Guide found application and senior web … Read more

Microsoft may self-proclaim IE a 'standard'

"No man is an island, entire of itself," wrote poet John Donne. But Microsoft apparently doesn't like poetry.

The company is currently mulling over whether to get in line with JavaScript standards for Internet Explorer, or whether to go it alone and crown itself a standard.

This is particularly tricky since every browser implements the JavaScript standard in different ways. So, the problem isn't exclusive to Microsoft.

It's more nettlesome with Microsoft, however, given its dominant browser market share. In some ways, it already is a standard unto itself. But I'm not sure the industry is ready for Microsoft to veer from the quasi-beaten path. According to an article posted Thursday on The Register:

Microsoft's browser is renowned as being a basket case on standards compliance, being less compliant than other leading standards in recent years according to the group monitoring this issue--The Web Standards Project (WASP).… Read more

Why Java can't do addition correctly

My last posting described a situation in which the Java programming language knowingly produces wrong results. In the example I gave, Java added two positive numbers, produced a negative result and didn't consider it an error. Specifically:

2,111,000,333 + 1,000,222,333 --------------- -1,183,744,630

I write this blog for a general audience, so I opted to leave out the technical details of how and why this happens. But, if you're not a computer programmer (the official term now being "developer") it may be inconceivable that a programming … Read more

Disgracefully unreliable software

Software can be made pretty reliable, lots of people and companies know how to do so. The auto-pilot on an airplane comes to mind, as do the computers that run financial markets. Then there's mainframe computers, perhaps the classic example of reliability (I spent many years working in a mainframe environment). But chances are that the computer you are reading this on is not as reliable as it could be.

Impolite Waiter Let's start with an analogy. How would you feel if you were in a restaurant, in the middle of your meal, and the waiter takes your … Read more

Sun starts bidding adieu to mobile-specific Java

SAN FRANCISCO--One area where Sun Microsystems' Java caught on was in mobile phones, but a leader of the project is working to eventually replace the mobile-specific version of the software.

Java Standard Edition (SE), geared for desktop computers, will gradually supplant Java Micro Edition (ME) as technology improvements let more computing power be packed into smaller devices, said James Gosling, the Sun vice president often called the father of Java.

"We're trying to converge everything to the Java SE specification. Cell phones and TV set-top boxes are growing up," Gosling said at a Java media event here … Read more

Sun's Scott McNealy: Lost in translation

Sun Microsystems Chairman Scott McNealy said he was misquoted in a South Korean newspaper earlier this week as saying Sun and cell phone maker Samsung Electronics are working on an iPhone-killer.

McNealy, who stopped in New York Thursday on his way back from South Korea to deliver a speech at the World Business Forum, said that the newspaper must have misunderstood a translation of what he had said.

"I never said that," he said. "I'm not really sure where they got that. I think it was a translation problem."

When pressed further during an interview … Read more

Report: Samsung prepping Java phone

In a development that could be anywhere interesting, sleep-inducing or potentially even fictitious, Sun Microsystems Chairman Scott McNealy said Samsung is building a Java phone that will have better features and lower cost than Apple's iPhone.

At least, that's what the Associated Press story about a report in the Korean newspaper JoongAng Ilbo.

Java is open-source software that at least in principle lets the same program run without having to be modified for different hardware. It's already widely used on mobile phones, including models from Samsung. What could make this story more interesting is if Samsung is … Read more