Vikram Goyal's Blog

Motorola to develop Java ME stack under Apache

In news that is sure to drive further the fragmentation issues of development using Java ME, Motorola has announced that it is going to develop its version of Java ME under the Apache license. As the report says: "it's not clear whether the Motorola and Sun projects are complementary or competing". I can't understand if Motorola is legally authorized to create a product called Java ME when Sun is the legal owner, even though it is being open sourced? Can anybody clarify this?

The timing is absolutely wrong and the aim seems foggy. Sun has just open sourced Java ME, so why develop a conflicting product, even under the ambit of Apache? The stated aim is to reduce device fragmentation. Ha! By developing a different base API to Sun's Java ME? How will that work? Not only will developers have to content with the established device fragmentation issues, this will introduce another layer of complexity and API fragmentation. Have you tested on Sun's Java ME based devices? Have you tested on Apache Java ME based devices?

The truth seems to be a marketing push to garner respectability within the Java ME development community to push Motorola and create a Motorola-centric development ecosystem.

"Although we are not aware of Sun's open-source plans, we would hope Sun would join in this effort," said Mark VandenBrink, a senior director and chief platform architect in Motorola Mobile Devices business.

Huh? Who, within the community, is not aware of Sun's open-source plans?

Comments

• I can't understand if Motorola is legally authorized to create a product called Java ME when Sun is the legal owner, even though it is being open sourced? Can anybody clarify this?

  From what I know, you can only call it Java ME if it is certified by Sun. That is, you can create and open source your Java ME, but unless it is certified by Sun, you can't call it Java ME or carry that Java logo when releasing to public.

  Posted by: honhwang on November 07, 2006 at 04:18 AM

• You're absolutely right Vikram. J2ME uptake has been constantly crippled by the self-interests of all the manufacturers since its inception.

  In my personal experience (6+ years of KVM/J2ME development), Motorola is one of the last companies that should be trying to take control. Their J2ME implementations are usually riddled with bugs.

  Personally, I have spent the last few years in horrified disgust that Sun hasn't jumped up and down on the handset manufacturers. I can understand that they each want to make their latest gizmos available with their own proprietary APIs, but shame on them for not being able to produce a base implementation that complies with the specifications.

  MIDP-3.0 (JSR-271, available at http://www.jcp.org/en/jsr/detail?id=271) has, as one of its goals to:

  "improve cross-device interoperability".

  Now, the specification lead on this is a Motorola employee. How does that tie-in to their apparent desire to subvert the process (and progress) of J2ME?

  Posted by: jimmack on December 16, 2006 at 04:12 AM

• google鲜花鲜花园林公司花卉租摆园艺绿化工程股票花木租摆礼仪公司交通园林公司园林工程luhua18

  Posted by: goodscape on April 28, 2007 at 08:00 AM

• 盛大金属制造有限公司是以生产钢管、无缝钢管、无缝管以及销售为一体得大型文件柜更衣柜流通企业。我们提供论文发表和同声传译同声传译设备等Google排名服务，专注于企业的SEO优化培训！

  Posted by: jlj714 on October 21, 2007 at 08:44 PM

• wow power leveling wow powerleveling wow power leveling wow gold wow items feelingame.com wow tips Most Valuable WOW Power Leveling Service wow power leveling faq cheap wow power leveling wow power leveling wow powerleveling wow power lvl

  Posted by: huaguoli123 on December 06, 2007 at 05:27 PM

• 东大生产线以丰富的经验和先进的计算机辅助设计（CAD）来满足客户装配线要求，设计出合理的流水线及工业流水线，经济的系统方案。

  Posted by: sunhuanjun on January 18, 2008 at 02:50 AM

• ليبيا

  شباب ليبيا

  games

  مسجات

  برامج

  ليبيا

  libya

  رياضة

  أفلام

  برامج نوكيا

  أخبار ليبيا

  فيديو

  صور

  ماسنجر

  ليبيانا

  شفرة art

  مسجات جميلة

  قرآن كريم

  غرائب

  محول 3gp

  عقارات ليبيا

  Posted by: mohaned on April 08, 2008 at 03:18 PM

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.