Sivasubramanian Muthusamy's Blog

Java Everywhere invisible and on the Desktop visible....

Even before a computer has the Java Desktop environment, there is already so much of Java in that computer - in any computer, unix or windows.

Java is all over. There is Java in the computer in so many forms - Java Run Time environment, Java Browser componets, and Java is the language behind several application programs in the computer.

When a Java Desktop is installed in this "already-java" environment, the machine speaks one language - Java... Of course it is not all Java, but what i am saying is that there would be a harmonious interaction between the desktop interface and the application software....

Does this theory make sense ???

Comments

• Hmm ... no.

  What exactly do you mean by a Java Desktop environment, as distinct from a JRE?

  Posted by: sumitkishore on April 08, 2007 at 02:19 AM

• I mean the "Java Desktop" interface that comes as part of Solaris 10 as an alternative to the Common Desktop Environment (CDE).

  Posted by: isolatednetworks on April 08, 2007 at 03:16 AM

• What kind of 'harmonious interaction' do you mean?

  Something like all Cocoa apps on the Mac sharing text services (Services menu)?

  Or data exchange via clip/pasteboard? or piped streams (stdin/out)

  Or exposed management interface via JMX ?

  Or advertised services like zeroconf/bonjour.... jxta?

  Posted by: goron on April 08, 2007 at 03:25 AM

• The "Java Desktop" on Solaris as Java only in its name :)

  Posted by: gfx on April 08, 2007 at 03:53 AM

• Dear gfx and goron,

  "The Java desktop in Solaris is Java only in its name" ????

  Why do you say that ? I am not challenging this opinion, but am asking you because I don't know what runs the Java Desktop that sits on top the O/S.... I assumed that the Java Desktop is rich in Java code ... Or, are you saying this because the Java desktop isn't cool like Java, itsn't like Java at all?
  On goron's questions, again my response is " I don't know"... I haven't seen Cocoa applications ( My exposure to an Apple macintosh was at an university in US, for about an hour and I had enough expertise to draw a square using the paintbrush application.. This was sixteen years ago. ) and don't know JMX, jxta, bonjour?

  I have seen and used the Java Desktop, it looks pretty average at the moment, but with 5 million people speaking the Java language, Java can emerge as a very trendy desktop interface

  The thought about harmonious interaction is rather an abstract concept. Lets say that it is what happens when the desktop user's interface and the applications in the computer speak the same language...

  I asked you because I don't know
  

  Posted by: isolatednetworks on April 08, 2007 at 07:46 AM

• No, it doesn't make sense. Java is not all over the desktop. The machine speaks only one language, assembly. Just because JRE is installed on the machine, doesn't mean anything. What about CLR, Flash and all the other envirnonments?

  Posted by: kirillcool on April 08, 2007 at 09:01 AM

• Dear Kirillcool,

  I didn't say Java is all over the desktop, I meant Java is sort of all over the computer (in the form of application programs and plug ins in the O/s).

  Yes the machine speaks Assembly language. But on a higher level, a) the O/S integrates in parts the Java environment and b) there are applications installed in the computer that happen to be coded in Java Language.

  There must be some difference at the level of interactions between these Java environments / applications with the java Desktop interface predominantly coded in Java Vs some other desktop interface, coded in a different language ???

  Or am I totally wrong here and everything first gets translated to machine level language before any interaction between the application and the Desktop environment ?

  In which case, my question does indeed not make sense

  Posted by: isolatednetworks on April 08, 2007 at 09:52 AM

• "I assumed that the Java Desktop is rich in Java code"

  It is not.

  "with the java Desktop interface predominantly coded in Java"

  It is not.

  Java Desktop (or JDS) is not written in Java. It's only GNOME with a few extra applications, among which Java SE and, if I recall correctly, some Java apps like jEdit. It's just a branding effort, a marketing tactic. Nothing more.

  Posted by: gfx on April 08, 2007 at 04:01 PM

• Dear Gfx,
  The java name is still fascinating...
  

  Posted by: isolatednetworks on April 09, 2007 at 01:26 AM

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