Sun's Zander: Java doing fine, thank you
SAN FRANCISCO - During his keynote address this morning, Sun president and chief operating officer Ed Zander showed graphics illustrating the rise in Java's popularity, from the growth in the number of developers creating applications using Java to the increase in the number of application servers that are Java compliant (96 percent).
Zander also chided the media for paying too much attention on an initiative -- .Net -- that still is months away from becoming a reality.
"I just read an article earlier today that said that Java is going along OK," Zander told the more than 20,000 people who crowded into the massive Moscone Center. "Going along OK? What else in this industry can put up numbers like this?"
As if to illustrate the point, Sun today made a number of Java-related announcements touching upon various parts of the industry, including wireless technology and the increasingly competitive Web services arena.
The Sun ONE (Open Net Environment) initiative and Microsoft's .Net are becoming the dominant names in Web services, with some observers of the opinion that Sun ONE is lagging behind its Microsoft counterpart.
A key part of JavaOne for Sun will be putting distance between itself and Microsoft, with a key differentiator being that the bulk of .Net has yet to be released, Zander said.
Another important difference, according to Sun officials, is Sun ONE's use of such open technology as XML (Extensible Markup Language) and SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol).
"Most important, it's based in standards," Zander said. "At any given time, you can replace any of these Sun products with something else from another vendor."
Sun announced that support for Web services will be integrated into the next version of the Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition, including directory services like UDDI and exXML and protocols like SOAP.
New wireless effort
The company also announced -- in conjunction with such wireless heavyweights as Nokia Corp., Motorola Corp. and Openwave Inc. -- a new Java wireless developer initiative, a resource for developers who want to create wireless applications and services.
The initiative will include training for developers, access to Java 2 Micro Edition development tools, support, the latest news and trends, and a direct link to developer programs created by the partner companies within the initiative.
During his keynote, Zander also brought to the stage Shin'ichi Okamoto, CTO and senior vice president for Sony Entertainment, who announced that the company will soon introduce a new Playstation 2 that is Java compliant.