SAN FRANCISCO – Sun Microsystems Inc. gave birth to a new relationship this week at the JavaOne conference in San Francisco.
On the heels of announcing a move towards creating a common platform, Jonathan Schwartz, executive vice-president of software at Sun, unveiled that an eleventh-hour deal had beensigned between Sun, Hewlett-Packard Co. and Dell Computer Co.
The agreement would see up-to-date Java installed on both Dell and HP PCs, with HPagreeing to ship the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) on Windows PCs by third quarter, 2003.The JRE will ship with Linux and Windows PC for Dell.
“We’re doing our best to make sure Java is everywhere,” Schwartz said at the 8th annual conference.
Toronto-based Dave Senf, e-business operations manager at IDC Canada said Sun would havean uphill battle to begin to make inroads in the desktop space.
“They do have low cost offering that could, in fact, do quite well,” Snef said, addingthat it is important for Sun to get Java deployed on as many devices as possible.
In February, Microsoft Corp. stopped shipping Java with its Windows XP Service Pack.This new relationship between two of Microsoft’s biggest allies is seen as a way to keep Java on Windows machines.
“It’s part of the overall strategy to win over more consumers and to get Java 2 Platform Standard Edition (J2SE)-enabled applications on as many desktops as possible,” Snef said.”It’s Sun’s vision that they can begin to erode the dominant desktop base that Microsoft currently holds.”
Sun Vice-President and General Manager of Java Software Rich Green, said the newagreements were just one part of the growth pattern of Java.
The company also announced at JavaOne its push to increase the number of developerswriting on Java platforms. Currently, Green said there are three million developers writingJava code. Sun is making a push to have that number multiply to 10 million.
“It’s sounds pretty straight and forward, but Sun has a plan,” Green said. “We plan oncreating new opportunities in development and deployment.”
Green said that if Sun wants to increase the number of developers, the company needs tospend time looking at particular segments within the technology industry, placing strictemphasis on the corporate developers.
Other highlights from JavaOne include:
– Sun Developer Mobility Program, to provide resources to create, test, and verify J2ME applications;
– Business Mobility Initiative, a program to deliver mobile solutions to the enterprise;
– the release of J2SE 1.4.2;
– agreements with Motorola, Nokia, Siemens and Sony Ericsson;
– plans to unify application testing and certification programs into a single initiative to accelerate availability and services for Java-enabled wireless devices;
– and Sun ONE Portal Server, Mobile Access 6.2, to extend the capabilities of Sun ONEPortal Server to provide access to personalized data and information from any wirelessbrowser or Java-enabled device.
JavaOne runs until June 13. For more information, visitwww.sun.com.
