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Sun Opens JDesktop Integration Components
Jahf writes "Sun has released the JDIC / JDesktop Integration Components API via the LGPL. The idea is to create a Java API that allows Java applications to better integrate with a modern desktop. It allows apps to embed a web browser component, access/launch desktop applications and associate filetypes. Documentation and demos are available and there is an incubator project (SaverBeans Screensaver) under way. Sun has been a proponent of developing desktop apps in Java, including a number of open source Java apps in the Java Desktop System and developing new ones for it as well (Java System Updater), and this appears to be a step towards making that goal a bit easier. I'm sure that every release of Java Desktop System (disclaimer: yes, I work on it) will continue to get the 'it has nothing to do with Java!' trolling since Sun is using GNOME as a desktop foundation (imagine what people would say if Sun created a 3rd environment in Java!) But those willing to step back and look at all facets (JDIC, Java Desktop System, Looking Glass previews, etc), hopefully others will see that Sun is getting more serious about making Java a platform for desktop developers."
That's a much better license than I was expecting. Of course, I don't know just what is being covered. It's important to know that before giving Sun too much credit. (Still, they haven't been slow about being viscious in public, so no reason for them to be subtle now.)
I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
This can help the GCJ project to build their free CLASSPATH faster.
Soon [I hope] this free Java compiler/interpreter will be ready to replace the "closed" Sun's Java.
I agree completely. They had their perfect cross-platform platform back then. They could have done so much, back when there was no real competition in that area (read desktop apps, such as browser, office, etc...), that every move they make now just look odd at best.
Write boring code, not shiny code!
Java -- liked it, thought it was the future, then it ran slow on the desktop so I stopped looking at it. I heard it's great on the server side, though. Then processors got faster and memory got cheaper so I thought hey, let's do Java on the desktop again!
Enter the debate of AWT, Swing, JFC, and all these other widget libraries. I tried the free Forte for Java and JBuilder to make me cutesy GUIs. I compiled and ran it on a Win98 box, transferred it over to a Linux box, and it worked spiffy except for a few font complaints. I had issues creating a jar file, though, and eventually got sidetracked away from the language altogether.
In the end, Java seems like an abusive friend -- I keep going back, and it keeps giving me pain. Haven't gotten around to running Eclipse and trying again. Not sure if it's safe to give this 'relationship' another shot.
Looking glass is way cool, I am itching and burning to get my hands on a copy of that (and perhaps some ointment).
Java Desktop is gnome with a new theme. Seriously they didn't even do as good a job as Redhat with Bluecurve in pretending that it was anything more than that. I suppose the real benefit is the legitimacy that it lends Linux on the desktop to the PHBs of the world, but technically it appears to be nothing to get excited about.
But the demos I've seen for looking glass....damn. It looks like Apple's Expose on steroids.
Finkployd
In our projects we have found that the .NET winforms foot print is minium 11mb, but often is at least 20-30mb. So please stop spreading FUD
Five years ago the main GUI for Java apps was the AWT, which just didn't sit well with a lot of serious developers. Swing was in its infancy, was dog slow at the best of times and didn't play well with threads. If they had tried to do this then, or anytime before Swing became a lot more usable, then it would have died before anyone noticed. They probably could have done it a little sooner, but its possible that because they now ship Gnome instead of CDE they're rethinking some of they ways the deploy a GUI desktop, or are making it easier to create apps with Java across all installations for desktop oriented tasks so that more programmers realize what can be done with Java.
"I use a Mac because I'm just better than you are."
I've been developing in Java for close to 7-8 years now, and am a great advocate of Java - for those tasks that fit it. I think Java on the server-side is a very powerful thing, but that it just wasn't ready for the desktop up to and including v1.4. Try running 10 copies of Notepad - and then try running 10 Notepad-equivalents in Java, and see the difference. Having said that, v1.5 bringing virtual machine sharing should have a big impact on this, but I have not yet had the opportunity to evaluate how much of a difference this makes on the footprint. I recently had to demo an old application that we developed back in '98 for Java 1.1/1.2, on both Windows and Linux using Sun's 1.4 virtual machine. I was appalled to see that the application, which had very good performance on Windows, was unfortunately having quite dramatic performance issues when run on Linux (Tests were done on a dual-boot machine). Java on the desktop - yes, great. But up until 1.5, it wasn't the time. Maybe things will change now.
Sun has simply figured out that it doesn't matter if they make some parts of the platform open source as long as they still control core portions of the platform.
And Sun does: not only is there no complete open source implementation of crucial components like Swing (although the SWT-Swing effort may be changing that), even if people should manage to make a credible and complete open source Java 2 implementation, Sun's licensing restrictions on the Java specifications and their Java-related patents would probably let them shut down or control any such implementation should it become a threat to their dominance.