Java Creator Joins Google; Will Android Benefit?

James Gosling, the man who created the programming language, Java, has just joined Google.

The hire was quite the win for Google, which is currently embroiled in a lawsuit with Java’s owner, Oracle, over some uses of Java in the Android stack.

Gosling said in a blog post on the move, “I don’t know what I’ll be working on. I expect it’ll be a bit of everything, seasoned with a large dose of grumpy curmudgeon.” Call us psychic, but we’re willing to bet Gosling will be working on the Android platform.

Gosling developed Java while he was an employee at Sun Microsystems. The project began in 1991, and the language was released in 1995.

But when Sun was acquired by Oracle in a deal that closed in January 2010, Gosling left the company a few months later. At the time, he said, “Just about anything I could say [about Oracle] that would be accurate and honest would do more harm than good.” He’s since been notably cynical about Oracle’s treatment of the Java language and community, even going so far as to call Oracle CEO Larry Ellison “Larry, Prince of Darkness.”

Gosling said he had turned down several “excellent” opportunities prior to signing with Google. He wrote that the new job, whatever it may entail from day to day, “looks like interesting fun with huge leverage.”

source: Mashable

Oracle Announces Release Date for Java 7

Today, Oracle announced that the Java Development Kit (JDK) 7 will be generally available on July 28, 2011. Yesterday, the company submitted the specs for Java 7 and 8 to the Java Community Process Executive Committee for approval. According to Java Chief architect Mark Reinhold's blog, the 'results should be available in two weeks.' However, as we reported recently, the Apache Software Foundation is threatening to vote against the approval of Java 7.

According to the submission materials, here's what Oracle intends to improve upon in the Java 7:

Continually improving the productivity of Java developers is critical to keeping the Java SE platform at the forefront of software development.

Exploiting the opportunities of multicore CPUs in a way that is safe and practical for developers is essential for all Java applications.

With the advent of new programming languages on the JVM it is important for the JVM to reflect the needs of language implementors, and that the Java language be able to interoperate with those languages.

In order to provide a competitive user experience Java applications sometimes need the ability to access and manipulate, in a controlled and testable fashion, the native semantics of the file system of the underlying platform.

And, also from submission materials, here's what it intends to improve in Java 8:

Exploiting the opportunities of multi-core CPUs in a way that is safe and practical for programmers is essential for all Java applications.

Modularity is a fundamental building block for developing, deploying, managing, and evolving all Java applications. Existing frameworks and tools support these tasks today, but standardization in the Java SE Platform would promote interoperability and benefit developers, users, and vendors.

Source: http://rww.to/djleRi

Google Just Lost a Potential Ally in its Legal Tussle with Oracle

Google Just Lost a Potential Ally in its Legal Tussle with Oracle: "

The battle between Oracle and Google over Android’s use of Java just got a lot more interesting. That’s because IBM has announced that it will be collaborating with Oracle to work on the OpenJDK project.
This means that IBM will no longer be part of the Apache Software Foundation’s Project Harmony, the project that provides Android with the components it needs to run Java code. With IBM leaving the project, Harmony is basically dead in the water.
Although Android wasn’t mentioned in the announcement, this is all interrelated to the Oracle lawsuit. Google responded to the lawsuit last week, claiming that Oracle, which got Java out of its purchase of Sun Microsystems, was acting in bad faith.
For the non-Java savvy out there, here’s an abbreviated rundown of how and why all of this stuff matters:
Apache Harmony is an open source implementation of Java. The goal in creating the project was to unite all of the various free software Java implementations together under one banner.
The project had a lot of early support, the only problem was that Sun (and then Oracle) never offered the project with a Technology Compatibility Kit (TCK). The TCK is needed to prove that Harmony is compatible with the Java specification and can be seen as a certified Java independent version of Java. When Sun first open sourced aspects of Java in 2007, it said it would provide the Apache Foundation with the necessary TCK for certification.
Sun never made good on those assurances and when Oracle took over Sun, the new company wasn’t interested in sharing the TCKs, instead wanting to focus all of its efforts on the officially sanctioned open source Java implementation, OpenJDK.
IBM’s Bob Sutor discussed the decision on his blog, writing:

“We think this is the pragmatic choice. It became clear to us that first Sun and then Oracle were never planning to make the important test and certification tests for Java, the Java SE TCK, available to Apache. We disagreed with this choice, but it was not ours to make. So rather than continue to drive Harmony as an unofficial and uncertified Java effort, we decided to shift direction and put our efforts into OpenJDK. Our involvement will not be casual as we plan to hold leadership positions and, with the other members of the community, fully expect to have a strong say in how the project is managed and in which technical direction it goes.”

This is a big blow to the Harmony project and by extension, to the libraries and classes that Android implements from Harmony in Android. Without big backing like IBM behind the project, it’s not likely to survive.
For now, the Harmony implementation of Java is fine. The problem will be when future versions of Java are released and Harmony can’t keep up in terms of features.
In Java, staying compatible is key. Interestingly, InfoWorld notes that Google has more developers working on OpenJDK than Oracle. So why choose Harmony for Android?
We think it’s because Google wanted to do an end-run around Sun’s licensing requirements. In essence, getting to take advantage of Java SE on mobile devices (something that Sun explicitly forbade without a license), but not having to pay for it.
Long before Sun’s sale to Oracle, others pointed out the potential licensing and IP quagmire that Google was entering with Android. The reality was, Sun didn’t have the power, the funds or the industry clout to really do anything about it.
Oracle does. In fact, Oracle’s clout and power is underscored by IBM’s decision to join up. IBM may be making its decisions for pragmatic reasons, but in the decision shows that IBM is not willing to side with Google in this elongated fight.
At this point, Google’s only real recourse is to sensibly settle and pay Oracle, or countersue and drag the fight out even longer. By fighting back, Google risks alienating its Java-base of developers.
While we question how important having a strong base of Java developers really is to Android’s success in the long term, it doesn’t mean it’s worth risking the future developments of the platform on a legal gamble.
Oracle is out for blood and IBM just provided the syringe.