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January 2008
January 16, 2008
Acquisition Tuesday
Today, Sun announced their acquisition of MySQL, and Oracle announced their acquisition of BEA. Let's see which one gets more attention.
Both Sun (http://www.sun.com/aboutsun/pr/2008-01/sunflash.20080116.1.xml) and Oracle (http://www.oracle.com/corporate/press/2008_jan/bea.html) announced large deals today. Sun said it was paying $800 million cash and assuming about $200 million in options in the acquisition. Oracle said it will acquire all outstanding shares of BEA for $19.375 per share in cash; a deal worth $8.5 billion.
Although the Oracle deal is larger in terms of overall dollars, in my opinion, the Sun-MySQL deal is bigger in overall impact to the open-source community. For Sun, this further cements them as an open-source software leader, clearly targeting the Web 2.0 world of developers. For MySQL and its customers, the infusion of resources by a larger company like Sun should help it improve and grow. For an excellent analysis of the deal, open-source, and the database market, be sure to check out Jonathan Schwartz's blog at http://blogs.sun.com/jonathan/entry/winds_of_change_are_blowing.
For BEA customers, the future is not as clear. For starters, Larry Ellison has stated that WebLogic will be absorbed into Oracle's Fusion suite of software. Does this mean that WebLogic will replace Oracle's existing application server (something that might upset existing Oracle customers), or will the products be merged together in some way? Either way, it will take some time for the details to be worked out.
One other thing is apparent; consolidation in the Java marketplace represents a new stage in Java EE's maturity. Will we see more acquisitions in the coming months as companies compete for more of the Java EE pie, or will this open the door for new products and ideas in the enterprise space? Write back and share your opinions.
-EJB
Posted by Eric Bruno at 08:41 AM Permalink
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January 09, 2008
tru2way
At the Consumer Electronics Show this week, CableLabs announced that OpenCable has been renamed to tru2way.
Why is this important? Well, the name change really isn't a big deal. What's cool about it is what their intent is. Today, many of us have set-top cable boxes that allow us to interact, to a varying degree, with our cable provider for services such as video-on-demand (VOD), pay-per-view (PPV), and so on. You may also have a separate recording device (DVR), such as Tivo. The cable industry has been working to integrate these separate services into one device.
Better yet, many people and cable providers would prefer to use cable cards. Most of the newer televisions being sold today (and over the past couple of years) support this, and in my experience, the picture quality is best as there are no externals cables to patch things together. Unfortunately, with cards you lose services such as PPV and VOD.
In an attempt to fix all of this, CableLabs has been working on multiple fronts. First there is OpenCable (which is now tru2way; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tru2way), and second there is OpenCable Application Platform (OCAP) - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenCable_Application_Platform. OCAP is an operating system and application platform that is designed to work across devices (regardless of manufacturer) as well as cable cards. The goal is to bring a standard set of integrated services to a range of lower-cost devices and cards with a standard API to make the lives of providers and consumers that much better.
To achieve these ambitious goals, both OCAP and tru2way are based on Java. It seems that many companies are now jumping on the tru2way wagon (see http://www.engadgethd.com/tag/Tru2way/). For instance, some devices that integrate with the standard allow you to view your downloaded and DVR'd content either at home on your big screen, or on the go on a portable device. All of this cool integration is made possible by the standards-based goodness of a Java platform. Or maybe it's because they changed the name to tru2way...
-EJB
Posted by Eric Bruno at 03:20 PM Permalink
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Java and Books
Java book sales may be down from what they were during the .com bubble, but Java-based book reader sales are up.
Amazon announced the Kindle (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000FI73MA) in November of 2007. They sold out of all available units within six hours of its introduction, and then went on to sell over 88,000 copies of Kindle-compatible electronic books (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kindle for more details).
I'm personally not sold yet; I still like to thumb through physical pages, see my books on shelves in my personal library, and be able to read something during takeoffs and landings when traveling (airlines don't like the use of any electronic devices when below 10,000 feet). Never mind that I like color magazines.
However, there's one very cool feature about the Kindle that does strike me - it's based on Java. Yes, inside this little wonder is a JVM making the whole thing work. From downloading content wirelessly, to searching across your purchased books' contents, Java is inside making it all possible (http://igorsk.blogspot.com/2007/12/hacking-kindle-part-3-root-shell-and.html). Besides the fact that this means people can hack it and do all sorts of wonderful, never-before-thought-of things with it, it means that as Amazon introduces potentially new readers based on different internal hardware, their existing Java-based software will work equally as well. That's the promise and delivery of write-once-run-anywhere.
This serves as yet another example as to why Java is still very much alive and well, especially in today's world of devices and mobility, despite the issues surrounding iPhone (http://www.ddj.com/blog/javablog/archives/2007/06/the_javaless_ip.html) and Android (http://www.ddj.com/blog/javablog/archives/2007/11/google_android.html). If Amazon can do this much with Java in the age-old industry of book sales, what else can be done? Write in with your ideas and help to make them happen!
Happy coding!
-EJB
Posted by Eric Bruno at 10:41 AM Permalink
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January 03, 2008
Silence is Golden
Silence may have worked in school, but not in the software industry. Hype, like it or not, can go a long way. So why has Sun gone so quiet with Java FX Script and Java FX Mobile?
I've noticed that, after much fanfare at JavaOne 2007, not much has been announced about Java FX (http://java.sun.com/javafx). Roadmaps for JavaFX Mobile (http://java.sun.com/javafx/mobile) go out for years, and Java FX Script language details are still in flux. That wouldn't be too bad if Sun kept up the awareness of the technology, which I believe holds a lot of promise.
However, I'm most concerned about Java FX Mobile. With all of the hype about the iPhone and the February delivery date of a comprehensive SDK, and now Google's Android mobile phone project, it's important for Sun to make it clear where Java FX fits in. Don't forget the rumors of Apple's pending handheld device of some sort (http://www.macrumors.com/2007/12/31/apple-sub-notebook-hints-external-optical-drive-multitouch-trackpad/); will it run Java? Sun needs to clearly show where Java FX Mobile is a better alternative to these two competing platforms. In other words, Sun, generate some hype and excitement around Java FX!
Why should you care? Because Java FX gives you the ability to write cools applications of all sizes and types, and run them on desktops and mobile devices equally. Your potential market size will grow by billions. What's better, you can still write your code in Java, and use Java FX Script to simplify the otherwise tricky Swing GUI code. Java FX finally brings a viable, platform independent, easy-to-develop, GUI framework to the Java world, and Sun has been very quiet about it.
What I'd like to see are more online tutorials, with real applications for demos; developer events in major cities sponsored by Sun; partner programs where major vendors announce their commitment to the platform to expand their application support, and so on. It can't just stop at JavaOne. To be fair, Sun did recently announce a new NetBeans plug-in, and a scene graph project for Java FX Script. See the links here:
- NetBeans 6.0 Java FX Plug-in: https://openjfx.dev.java.net/javafx-nb60-plugin-install.html
- Project Scene Graph: https://scenegraph.dev.java.net/
Java FX Script is mostly open; you can download and contribute to the compiler code today (https://openjfx-compiler.dev.java.net/). Perhaps Sun should build Java FX Mobile in the open also. It might benefit in many ways if Sun were to open it up completely, and allow the user base, the handset manufacturers, and the operators, to guide its direction and contribute significant portions of code. What's your opinion? Would you want to get involved in such an effort? Does the expanded market base excite you as a developer? Write back and let me know.
Happy coding!
EJB
Posted by Eric Bruno at 10:17 AM Permalink
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