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Sun's "Java Powered" Campaign

scapermoya writes "eWeek is reporting that Sun has started blitzing consumers , trying to increase public awareness about Java, with everything from accosting pedestrians to "Java Powered" logos begining to appear on some devices that are J2ME (Java 2 Media Edition) compatable. Tiny cup logos will now be pasted on everything from cell phones to microwaves." But not on Space Invaders clones.

286 comments

  1. I Hate Powered By Campaigns by Cavio · · Score: 0, Troll

    My new website will be gerbil powered. You don't want to know what it is about.

    --

    Please bid on this Karmann Ghia! Please pleas

  2. Wait... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    ...does that mean Sun actually has a Marketing Department?!

    1. Re:Wait... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What do you mean? The press still describes Java as "a langauge that allows programs to run on any computer". Getting people to still believe something good and untrue about your product after a decade is great marketing.

    2. Re:Wait... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "a langauge that allows programs to run on any computer"

      Yeah, what a lie. I have a KIM-II (6502 CPU, 2k ROM, 1k RAM, hex keypad entry, 6-digit 7-segment LED disply). Try getting Java to run on that.

  3. I claim prior art by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Sun's a little slow, I've had one of these stickers on my coffee machine for ages.

    1. Re:I claim prior art by arivanov · · Score: 1, Informative
      Yeah, it is a good sticker for the office coffee machine:

      Coffee! Do stupid things faster! And with more energy!

      --
      Baker's Law: Misery no longer loves company. Nowadays it insists on it
      http://www.sigsegv.cx/
    2. Re:I claim prior art by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      i put the sticker on myself all the time.

    3. Re:I claim prior art by Ari_Haviv · · Score: 1, Insightful

      unfortunately Java makes everything slower

      --
      Join Team Mozilla #38050 Folding@home
    4. Re:I claim prior art by UserGoogol · · Score: 1

      Well, considering that they are both languages which may be used to program the computational machine, and they both have keywords taken from English words, yes, they are the same.

      --
      "Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity." -- Hanlon's Razor
  4. Blitz? by teiresias · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Why would you blitz the general public? I don't think your average Mom walking down the street wants Java shoved at her unless it's in a cup and warm.

    --
    -Teiresias
    1. Re:Blitz? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      "Why would you blitz the general public? I don't think your average Mom walking down the street wants Java shoved at her unless it's in a cup and warm."

      See "Centrino" and "Intel Inside" and "Start Me Up" all in your Mom's face campaigns. They want people to want Java so it becomes a checklist item.

    2. Re:Blitz? by superpulpsicle · · Score: 0

      Not to mention marketing isn't really the problem here. Plenty of developers like/prefer to do everything in java. Problem is the performance. I don't care how fast your machine is, or what 1000-processor machine you ported it to. It still runs slow.

    3. Re:Blitz? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      adaptive jit's running in server mode are pretty fast.

    4. Re:Blitz? by bcrowell · · Score: 0

      Why would you blitz the general public? I don't think your average Mom walking down the street wants Java shoved at her unless it's in a cup and warm.
      As an example of why a consumer would care, my wife and I bought a new car this weekend, and when we got it home, we noticed that it was taking about thirty seconds to start after we turned the key in the ignition. It was really annoying, and we were about to take it back to the dealer, but then we noticed the "Powered by Java(tm)" sticker on the steering column.

    5. Re:Blitz? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "My cock" is also all up in your Mom's face as well.
      She seems to enjoy it.

  5. Consumers? by JohnFromCanada · · Score: 3, Informative

    Consumers don't care what language there application is written in as long as it does what is requested. I am a Java programmer and Sun seriously has to start doing something relevant with the language itself as it is loosing developers at an extremely fast pace. Java powered stickers will do no good when they have no developers left.

    1. Re:Consumers? by tcopeland · · Score: 4, Insightful

      > it is loosing developers at
      > an extremely fast pace

      Is it? Hm. To which languages? C#?

      I'm doing lots of Ruby programming lately, but I'm still doing quite a bit of Java, too....

    2. Re:Consumers? by lokedhs · · Score: 0, Redundant
      They are? To whom?

      While I can agree that I have seen Java developers doing C# lately, I have also see the reverse happening. I don' thave any numbers but "extremely fast pace"?

    3. Re:Consumers? by Shivantrill · · Score: 1
      I agree!
      It's like those "Intel Inside" stickers. Consumers stopped caring about those when they realized that it didn't mean their computer ran better than the ones without the "Intel Inside" stickers.

      Java as a development language was a great idea at the time but they neglected to sufficiently run with with it. What happened to the promise of all the "smart" appliances?

      --
      Karma, We don't need no stinkin' karma!
    4. Re:Consumers? by JohnFromCanada · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Extremely fast pace may be a slight overstatement however I would say there are many languages that are taking developers away from Java not just C#. An example of this is how all the students at the local Universities are petitioning to have Java removed as the core programming language as they are complaining that is just not applicable enough compared to other languages such as C#. By no means am I saying these concerns are legitimate but Java is definitely being hit hard lately. Furthermore, I do a lot of freelance work in Toronto for different companies and most of the ones that were using Java a year ago are now switching to the .NET platform. I could not say for the rest of the world but here in Canada Java is being hit hard and the majority of companies, at least that I have dealt with, are switching to .NET to get rid of Java all together. Not saying this is good or bad however I think it's clear, at least in Toronto, that Java is having a hard time keeping up and keeping developers on board.

    5. Re:Consumers? by rythos · · Score: 3, Informative

      I can account for the other side of Canada. In Vancouver the University of British Columbia just finished re-working all of their first and second year courses to be run with Java instead of C++ and Scheme. (yeah Scheme!)

    6. Re:Consumers? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Did you even read the post? The poster specifically said that he doesn't know about everywhere and was only speaking about Toronto. He also said that he doesn't agree with the situation at the local Universities however it is still happening.

      "However, if you don't want to study it, fine, more money for the rest of us to make."

      Did you also read the part where he said he was a Java developer? Obviously not.

      Keep assuming Java has it all locked up and you will be left behind. Java doesn't have anything locked up and seems to be slower than the others at innovation ting, at least recently. Java developers that don't realize what it going on currently with Java are just ignorant to the facts.

      "When I see it happening in NYC, LA, Chicago, Washington, SanFran, or Boston metros (which has *double* the population of Toronto) then I'll consider your argument."

      Why would he care about New York and all these cities in the U.S. when he is from Canada? I hate to break it to you but the US doesn't dictate what is popular in the technology market.

    7. Re:Consumers? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I consider myself fairly tech-savvy, but I don't give a rat's ass that my phone runs Symbian over something else. And what's this about a microwave with a java sticker? What's wrong with good ol' electronics? Microwaves don't need operating systems...

    8. Re:Consumers? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      molarmass is clearly clueless to what is actually going on in the real world. From you post it barely seems like your responding to what the parent poster said.

    9. Re:Consumers? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So according to this molarmass192 jackass your opinion is only valid if you live in one of the largest populated cities in the world.

    10. Re:Consumers? by JavaLord · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I would say there are many languages that are taking developers away from Java not just C#. An example of this is how all the students at the local Universities are petitioning to have Java removed as the core programming language as they are complaining that is just not applicable enough compared to other languages such as C#.

      I still see more Java Development jobs than any others here in the Northeast/tri-state area in the USA.

      I don't see why any school would want to drop Java as a core programming language, it's one of the most used languages out there, and it's abstraction and large API makes it possible to do pretty cool things easly. I couldn't see a first year comp sci student writing an internet chat room in C++, where as it's easy in Java.

    11. Re:Consumers? by Metasquares · · Score: 2, Interesting

      The University of Toronto is a big name in the field of AI, particularly logical reasoning and cognitive robotics. They've put out a lot of papers and software, and are responsible for the Golog language. Considering that these technologies may very well end up in the semantic web, among other future widespread technologies, it might be a bad idea to ignore what's going on over there. Corporate adoption dictates what the current trend is, but educational adoption predicts what the trend will be in the next decade or two.

    12. Re:Consumers? by hackstraw · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Consumers don't care what language there application is written in as long as it does what is requested.

      Well, not to flame but in my experience java sucks, and always has sucked. Forturnately, the marketing people at Sun have convinced them to follow the Solaris versioning and jump from 1.4 to 5.

      I guess I have to be more specific with its suckiness. Back when java was newer Netscape on Linux + Java = long lag & loadtime, then crash. This was back when Java was pushed as _the_ GUI app, because you could "Write once, run anywhere". Then the awt toolkit was not as crossplatform as hoped, then came swing, and then people stopped writing GUIs for java (for the most part). Then a little later, I was tasked to install Oracle on an NT box (or some other MS server, don't remember). It was the Java "Universal installer". It randomly hung, and just didn't work. Later I found out that I had to reboot the machine in 16 colors so the java installer would install. Then Sun ships things with their "webinstaller", which is actually the "javainstaller", but the marketing people were on vaction during that naming process. Anyhow, I've seen these guys fail to start if you launched them with the full path (complete with a traceback with linenumbers, etc, w00t!). Of course, it could find the classpaths if I ran it with ./application instead of /full/path/applicaton. Other webinstallers have failed in random places (again with complete tracebacks!). I've had certain versions of matlab that failed to start over remote X sessions because of jvm versions. A student I work with is doing a project in Java and he's still having problems in certain browsers, etc.

      These are all off the top of my head.

      Again, I'm not flaming, just stating my obvservations. I've programmed and run some java stuff on very small embedded systems like smartcards and iButtons with no real issues, but these were just toy projects that did not go into production.

      Now java seems most happy as a middleware language (application services or whatnot) on 3 tier web services, and having competition from .NET.

      Also, it has become the marketing puppet for Sun. Java desktop, Java this, java that.

      So yeah, as far as _this_ consumer goes, I care, and loathe running anything that is java.

    13. Re:Consumers? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      An example of this is how all the students at the local Universities are petitioning to have Java removed as the core programming language as they are complaining that is just not applicable enough compared to other languages such as C#.

      Beware the Astroturf of Microsoft on campus!

      My school never had anyone intrested in a .NET or MS users group until Microsoft actually PAID some students to start one! Now they are always have events sponsored by MS and bringing in new books paid for by MS to the library or just doing various pro-MS propoganda.

      Now I'm not bitching about extra C# books in the library...what I am bitching about is Microsoft paying students to do things like "petition for the removal of outdated languages like Java from the curriculum".

      MS couldn't keep up with real grassroots Linux and BSD groups on campus so they actually had to PAY for students to create MS and .NET user groups! That's like prostitution and shame on the student whores who work with MS on this!

    14. Re:Consumers? by JamesOfTheDesert · · Score: 1
      I couldn't see a first year comp sci student writing an internet chat room in C++, where as it's easy in Java.

      Easy, sure, because the heavy lifting is hidden away. Not very instructional for that comp sci student.

      Java(tm) may have its place in CS programs; some vocational training is handy for getting that first job. But, as a language, it's a bit half-assed for learning about computer science.

      --

      Java is the blue pill
      Choose the red pill
    15. Re:Consumers? by SQLz · · Score: 1

      I agree with you and the marketing people. One thing I found very confusing when I first started to learn JAVA was actually figuring out...what the hell JAVA actually was because everything was named "Java Something".

    16. Re:Consumers? by MosesJones · · Score: 1


      No Developers left....

      At the last count there were 4 million and the 2003 figure for Java Services stood at $110bn.

      The mobile market shipped 250m devices last year (350m to date) and generated $3.5bn in revenue on that platform alone.

      Do you have any evidence to support your claim ?

      Or are you just making everything up based on your own experience.

      --
      An Eye for an Eye will make the whole world blind - Gandhi
    17. Re:Consumers? by BeerMilkshake · · Score: 1

      I would think that a University should teach CS using as many different languages/environments as practical.

      As for seeing people switch from Java to .NET, I suppose there may be a 'bandwagon effect' with all the press that MS has generated, and with many programmers wanting to have .NET on their resume just in case.

      Those people switching to .NET now will be just as likely to switch from .NET to the next big thing (maybe .NET++) in five years.

      They must have alot of money if they can afford to keep throwing out all that earned value and redo their products with the latest tech.

    18. Re:Consumers? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not to mention slashdot discussions like this one... the shilling-to-signal ratio is reaching dangerous levels here. But at least this way we get more quality writing than usual, some of the combined technical-emotional anecdotes are so convincing I'm almost ready to drop everything and follow the leader...

    19. Re:Consumers? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      At the last count there were 4 million and the 2003 figure for Java Services stood at $110bn.

      The mobile market shipped 250m devices last year (350m to date) and generated $3.5bn in revenue on that platform alone.

      Do you have any evidence to support your claim?

      Posters, please cite your sources.

    20. Re:Consumers? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why is this modded informative? It has no background, just an opinion stated without any supporting evidence at all. The opinion voiced, in my experience at least, sounds very suspect, and it's got two *awful* grammatical errors in three sentences.

      I call "troll".

    21. Re:Consumers? by Crazen · · Score: 1

      Consumers don't care what language there application is written in as long as it does what is requested. Consumers also play the part of PHBs. Consumers also get Microsoft thrown in their faces all the time.

      I am a Java programmer and Sun seriously has to start doing something relevant with the language itself

      1. Templates
      2. Meta Data
      3. type safe enums
      4. autoboxing
      5. Better thread library
      6. simplistic syntax for iterations
      I think that's a pretty good record for the latest release. What do you feel needs to be in now?
    22. Re:Consumers? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I agree that those are all good changes however I would just like to see Sun put some of this money into more advancement in the language and JVM instead of wasting it on a mass marketing campaign like this. Just my preference though.

    23. Re:Consumers? by spasticfraggle · · Score: 1
      Wow, you list a whole load of problems you've had with apps written in Java.

      Do you really think this is somehow Java's fault? I'm not suggesting that Java is somehow perfect - but that's the point. It isn't perfect - it can't protect you from bad probgrammers. All the problems you mention (and more) we've had for years and years with programs in C and C++.

      News at 11.

    24. Re:Consumers? by dekeji · · Score: 1

      Is it? Hm. To which languages? C#?

      Java was such a spectacular success in the mid-90's because there was really not much else that was widespread for the non-Microsoft crowd back then, either in terms of languages or in terms of toolkits. Java got a lot of attention and had a lot of promise.

      In 2004, we have lots of choices besides Java: C#, PHP, Ruby, and Python, to name just a few. And C++ has matured to the point where there are lots of good C++ libraries and toolkits (there weren't in the mid-90's).

      I have mostly moved back from Java to C++ and Python, although I'm starting to use C# more and more as well.

    25. Re:Consumers? by Crazen · · Score: 1
      I agree that those are all good changes however I would just like to see Sun put some of this money into more advancement in the language and JVM instead of wasting it on a mass marketing campaign like this. Just my preference though.

      It took approximately 8 years for C++ to get Templates standardized.

    26. Re:Consumers? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      C++ matured in 1997; STL is even older. The lack of libraries and toolkits was simple incompetence.

    27. Re:Consumers? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      C++ matured in 1997;[...] The lack of libraries and toolkits was simple incompetence.

      Well, one might say that C++ matured in 1997. That's about a year after Java came out and around the time other big players adopted it.

      And it should be no surprise that if C++ matured in 1997, it took a few more years for people to create decent libraries for it, which they have done by now.

      STL is even older.

      STL is a piece of shit that should never have been included in the C++ standard. If anything, software like STL has held back adoption of C++.

    28. Re:Consumers? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Easy, sure, because the heavy lifting is hidden away. Not very instructional for that comp sci student.

      Actually, it's perfect for the first year comp sci student. It has a strict syntax, is OO, and has a vast library so students can see themselves doing useful things early on, rather than a C++ console app. Any comp sci student is going to get to the 'guts' of a computer when he or she hits assembly language 1 and 2. I've never seen a comp sci curriculum that didn't have asm 1 and 2. Java(tm) may have its place in CS programs; some vocational training is handy for getting that first job. But, as a language, it's a bit half-assed for learning about computer science.

      You are right, lets teach them Ruby, because a dead, underground, worthless language is better than the first or second most common one in the job market. Right. Get off the cockboat. If you are in love with some language the rest of the world doesn't care about that is fine, but don't talk shit about a language that people actually use.

    29. Re:Consumers? by JamesOfTheDesert · · Score: 1
      Get off the cockboat. If you are in love with some language the rest of the world doesn't care about that is fine, but don't talk shit about a language that people actually use.

      Sorry, you're quite right. We need to be practical: teach them COBOL.

      Oh, and thanks for the Ironic Statement of the Day

      --

      Java is the blue pill
      Choose the red pill
    30. Re:Consumers? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      You are right, lets teach them Ruby, because a dead, underground, worthless language is better than the first or second most common one in the job market.

      NASA, Motorola, and others seem to enjoy riding the cockboat..

      but don't talk shit about a language that people actually use

      Exactly.

    31. Re:Consumers? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is too funny...

      NASA,

      Yeah, one guy at NASA uses ruby. Holy shit, I better go out and learn it. It's so obviously superior to Java.

      Motorola,

      hahah, from the website you linked..."Within a research group in Motorola, we use Ruby to script around a simulator" So some people in one group at Motorola use it? Oh wow you sold me! Lets teach it to everyone! They can all go work for the 4-5 above people who use ruby!

      and others seem to enjoy riding the cockboat..

      they sure do!

    32. Re:Consumers? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sorry, you're quite right. We need to be practical: teach them COBOL.

      See the original point about programming in an acceptable manner and creating complex things easily. If you want to get technical, teaching students COBOL would be more useful than having them learn gay ass Ruby.

    33. Re:Consumers? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      See the original point about programming in an acceptable manner and creating complex things easily. If you want to get technical, teaching students COBOL would be more useful than having them learn gay ass Ruby.

      "Gay ass?" Maybe by the time you're 11 or 12 you'll have learned more clever ways to describe things. And maybe even have learned your first programming language.

      But I doubt it.
    34. Re:Consumers? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      STL generalized arrays and pointers into statically-typed by-value collections with minimal overhead. Those are the same tradeoffs that the rest of C++ makes. If you wish it behaved differently, you are among the vast herd of people who really ought to be using a higher-level language rather than diluting C++'s strenghts.

  6. Good luck... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    An alternitive to having everything labeled "Windows powered" or "designed for windows xp"

  7. Maybe I should have the logo tattooed on my arm... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Because of how many times I goto starbucks in a day :)

  8. Well another sticker... by derphilipp · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Well Microsoft - or better: the vendors do this with every nearly every x86, printer, mouse, soundcard, usb stick, external harddrive.... nerly every piece of hardware sold today. I'm waiting for a tux- and an apple-sticker (sometimes you can see the "finder-face" on certified compatible hardware (like I already saw on some newer laserprintes)

    --
    Spelling mistakes: My is english spoken not tongue of mother.
    1. Re:Well another sticker... by Spellbinder · · Score: 1

      i have a 1.5 year old samsung laser printer with a tux logo on the box

      --


      stop supporting microsoft with pirating their software!!!!!
    2. Re:Well another sticker... by anomalous+cohort · · Score: 1

      I got a redhat sticker when I bought the box for version 5.2 many years ago.

    3. Re:Well another sticker... by downbad · · Score: 1
  9. Reminds me of the good old days... by tcopeland · · Score: 4, Funny

    ....of 1998.

    "We've got one million customers!"
    "For what?"
    "Our, er, free service. But I'm sure they'll give us money if we ask!"

    1. Re:Reminds me of the good old days... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      True, but you maybe forgetting the fact the the ONLY way Sun is directly making money out of Java IS licensing j2me implementation (and logo/certification/conformance testing of the same).

      So while that joke would ring true with J2SE JDK (the one you use for development), it's not completely true WRT mobile phones. Granted revenue isn't bulk of Sun's revenue, but it still is in millions.

    2. Re:Reminds me of the good old days... by tcopeland · · Score: 1

      > the ONLY way Sun is directly making
      > money out of Java IS licensing
      > j2me implementation

      Hm, good point. So raising awareness could lead to more licensees... good point.

  10. The "Powered by Java" campaign must mean... by stankulp · · Score: 2, Funny

    ...that Sun is not going to release Java under the GNU General Public License anytime soon.

    --
    We must be alert to the danger that public policy could become captive to a scientific-technological elite. - Eisenhower
    1. Re:The "Powered by Java" campaign must mean... by tehcyder · · Score: 3, Interesting
      I don't think that follows, you get software and hardware boxes with little Tux stickers on now.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
    2. Re:The "Powered by Java" campaign must mean... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why was this rated as interesting, its a joke right?

    3. Re:The "Powered by Java" campaign must mean... by packetrat · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Um, no. They can take Java open-source, and still retain the rights to the BRAND Java. What's more likely is that they'll open-source parts of Java, but retain J2ME as commercially-licensed because that's where they see the real revenue coming from down the line.

    4. Re:The "Powered by Java" campaign must mean... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Au contraire. Creating brand awareness will allow them to give it away. Remember that even if the licensed the JDK as open-source, they would still control the applicability of the Java brand.

  11. Students by secondsun · · Score: 5, Funny

    I feel sorry for all of the over caffinated students that are going to get branded when this is all over.

    Well the onlly marketable named product Sun has right now is Java, and they are whoring out their youngest child for crack faster than you can say Sweet Zombie Jesus. I like Java, I really do, but it's alphabet soup family of products reads like intrest groups at gay pride parades. J2ME5, J2EE5, JDBC, JWS, JNLP, J2SDk,J2RE, etc. Maybe they should focus on their other marginally successful products like... umm.. well... umm...

    --
    There is nothing wrong with being gay. It's getting caught where the trouble lies.
    1. Re:Students by olderchurch · · Score: 2, Informative
      From the Mozilla java FAQ:

      Windows

      On Windows, Mozilla can be used with Sun's Java Runtime Environment (JRE). It can not be used with the Microsoft Java VM, as that can only be used with Internet Explorer. Also, versions of Sun's JRE older than 1.3.0_01 will not work.

      It is possible to install JRE 1.4.2_05 from within Mozilla, using XPInstall technology. This is by far the easiest way to install Java. If you can not use XPInstall, you can download the JRE 1.4.2_05 full installer and use that instead.

      Mozilla's handling of XPI files is changing. For more details, see the XPInstall Changes FAQ.

      On some systems, JRE 1.4.2 does not work. In this case, you can use JRE 1.4.1_07 until the issue you are having is resolved.

      If you are using a zipped build of Mozilla or Mozilla Firefox, you need to add this registry entry. Some users report requiring it even if they have used the Mozilla Firefox installer, so try it first if you have problems with JRE 1.4.2 or later.

      --
      Disclaimer: This opinion was created without the use of any facts
    2. Re:Students by joeljkp · · Score: 1

      Or just go to java.com and click the Download button.

      --
      WeRelate.org - wiki-based genealogy
    3. Re:Students by Morosoph · · Score: 1
      but it's alphabet soup family of products reads like intrest groups at gay pride parades. J2ME5, J2EE5, JDBC, JWS, JNLP, J2SDk,J2RE, etc.
      Reminds me of the Judean People's Front! [Reg: "Judean People's Front! We're The People's Front of Judea! Judean People's Front, God!"].
  12. I like milk and sugar with my Java by ArgyleAgent · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Looks like a sign that Sun is getting a little worried about their hardware business. You can still make money off of free things, right?

  13. Sun is grasping... by ecklesweb · · Score: 5, Insightful

    From the article (a quote by Sun):

    "When consumers see the name 'Java,' they understand that has stuff that makes it work better on the Internet."

    That's just stretching it a little far. Java is (so far) a programming language, this JDS nonsense not withstanding. It only has stuff that makes it work better on the Internet if the developers design and code that stuff (using Java or something else).

    I wonder if Sun is going to dilute its brand among developers (where the Java brand really buys them something) by pushing the brand into a consumer light. I can understand Sun's desire to have a strong consumer brand, and maybe it's easier to start with an existing brand than to build one from scratch, but I just think they're going the wrong direction with this. If they want a consumer brand, why not try to revive "Star" or just build from the ground up. IF they have something serious to offer consumers, building the brand shouldn't be that hard.

    1. Re:Sun is grasping... by Kombat · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Java is (so far) a programming language, this JDS nonsense not withstanding. It only has stuff that makes it work better on the Internet if the developers design and code that stuff

      Uh, that's the point. It already does. Developers have already "designed and coded" that stuff into the core API. Java's core framework is astutely network-aware. It is trivially easy to write a Java app that uses the network, unlike C, which requires a great deal more knowledge of low-level network functionality and threading models.

      --
      Like woodworking? Build your own picture frames.
    2. Re:Sun is grasping... by LnxAddct · · Score: 1

      I can write a minimilastic server in java in less then 10 lines of code, maybe even 4 depending on how you count. The core APIs of Java are just amazing. I feel spoiled whenever I am using Java and not using C++. Java is very powerful and allows the programmer to focus more on what the programmer should be focusing on. And as far as Java powered devices go, that is a requirement for me because I like to code my own stuff where I can (I'm not gonna pay 10 dollars for nibbles when I can just code it.)
      Regards,
      Steve

    3. Re:Sun is grasping... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, but C#, Java's nearest competitor, also has all that stuff.

    4. Re:Sun is grasping... by pjt33 · · Score: 2, Insightful
      That's just stretching it a little far. Java is (so far) a programming language, this JDS nonsense not withstanding.
      Well... In some contexts Java is a language; in others it's a platform. In the context of phones it's a platform rather than a language - if you're really worried about minimising your footprint you may find yourself assembling bytecode with Jasmin rather than writing Java source.
    5. Re:Sun is grasping... by ecklesweb · · Score: 1
      Uh, that's the point. It already does. Developers have already "designed and coded" that stuff into the core API. Java's core framework is astutely network-aware.

      No, that's not the point. To a consumer, it doesn't matter that the API is "astutely network-aware." To a consumer "making stuff work better on the Internet" means it connects faster or it downloads quicker or it doesn't require a password or they can use it with their AOL connection.

      The key distinction here, and you've made it better than I could, is that Java *should* be marketed towards developers. To developers, Java really is a "better" internet development tool/language/platform. To a consumer, it currently means little to nothing. And from a consumer perspective, Java doesn't inherently have anything that works better on the Internet. Java applications may have features that were easier to implement because of the network-aware APIs, but Joe Consumer doesn't give one damn about that. The same functional features could be written in any one of a dozen other languages.

      All this to return to my original point, Sun is grasping for something -- anything -- to market to consumers, even something that clearly should be targeted to developers.

    6. Re:Sun is grasping... by Evil+Schmoo · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The problem, as I see it, is the classic clash between a technology company and its public owners. Sun's stock price was absolutely hammered in the crash, and it has not even come close to recovering. I *still own* my Sun stock, because it's completely worthless to sell. Institutional investors, in particular, are not patient; they've been howling for Sun to return to its pre-crash levels for several years now.

      Over the past three years, the price has risen, slowly, to its current level of a little over $4 per share. And that's with the revamping of the company, and maintaining Sun's place in the tech community. If their stock price is going to return even to the mid-level position it held seven or eight years ago, Sun probably can't rely on the tech community to get there. They're going to have to rely on the public.

      Branding in tech is monumentally difficult, since you're dealing with such a huge information gap between techies and the vast majority of the buyers of the products don't have a clue as to what advantage AMD might provide over Intel, for example. The MOST selective of them might look up one or two specs, shut their eyes, and guess. The others will simply buy Dells.

      Java is one of the very few things that non-techies may have heard about in computing. Ergo, if you're going to try and build your stock price, you're going to have to hope that non-techies will respond to you in some new way. That's going to be much, much easier relying on existing brands that have some toehold with consumers, rather than introducing some new brand that means nothing to consumers.

      Microsoft, of course, is the champion of tech branding, and Intel is a pretty close second. If Sun has any hope of recovering its stock price (which I freely admit is a very different prospect than developing new or better technologies), it's going to have to develop a brand on par with these or Dell/Cisco. Not easy.

  14. Last time I checked by SwansonMarpalum · · Score: 4, Informative

    Last time I checked, J2ME is Java 2, Micro Edition, not Java 2 Media Edition. The point being that it is a very small virtual machine (as far as memory footprint and storage required)

    --
    "Give away the stone, let the oceans take and transmutate this cold and faded anchor." - Maynard James Keenan
    1. Re:Last time I checked by MSBob · · Score: 0

      Last time I checked J2ME was Java 2 Mobile Edition not Java 3 Micro Edition. You got closer though ;-)

      --
      Your pizza just the way you ought to have it.
    2. Re:Last time I checked by asb · · Score: 1

      Incorrect. The link in Sun's page does mention the words "mobile" and "wireless" but if you take the time to follow the fscking link you'll notice that Sun calls it "Java 2 Platform, Micro Edition".

      --
      Antti S. Brax - Old school - http://www.iki.fi/asb/
    3. Re:Last time I checked by blue_adept · · Score: 1

      Last time I checked, Theoden was king of Rohan, not Aragorn.

      (sorry, that kind of thing tends to happen after the 100th viewing.)

      --

      "Is this just useless, or is it expensive as well?"
    4. Re:Last time I checked by CableModemSniper · · Score: 1

      Damn, and I used all my modpoints yesterday.

      --
      Why not fork?
    5. Re:Last time I checked by Ilgaz · · Score: 1

      Seems the story submitting people chose to troll.

      Since 90% of phones shipping now has java micro edition built in.

      Oh btw coders, its great money you can make :)

    6. Re:Last time I checked by Pieroxy · · Score: 1

      You got closer though ;-)

      Yes, he got closer. Closer than you that is.

      Here it is.

    7. Re:Last time I checked by JamesP · · Score: 1

      Ahem...

      Java to MOBILE edition?

      --
      how long until /. fixes commenting on Chrome?
    8. Re:Last time I checked by MSBob · · Score: 1

      OK. I stand corrected. Not enough coffee in the system... no pun intended.

      --
      Your pizza just the way you ought to have it.
  15. blitz the general public... by 53cur!ty · · Score: 1, Funny

    Just what we need another SPAM portal to target people who have no idea that the ads for SUN and Java are not about a vaction for caffine addicts!

    Seems like SUNs marketing department is no brighter then anyone elses, just... a... little... slower...

    Protect Yourself no one else will;)

  16. j2me != java 2 media edition by sporty · · Score: 0, Redundant

    j2me = java 2 MICRO edition (java.sun.com/j2me)

    --

    -
    ping -f 255.255.255.255 # if only

    1. Re:j2me != java 2 media edition by azzy · · Score: 1, Funny

      Oh.. I thought it meant Java 2 Mono Edition

    2. Re:j2me != java 2 media edition by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What's so redundant about that post.
      15 others got + informative for theirs

    3. Re:j2me != java 2 media edition by thomasdelbert · · Score: 1


      If J2ME is Java 2 Mono Edition, what's J2SE?

      - Thomas;

      --
      ___ This sig is in boldface to emphasize its importance!
    4. Re:j2me != java 2 media edition by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If J2ME is Java 2 Mono Edition, what's J2SE?

      Java 2 Syphilis Edition.

  17. Re:Maybe I should have the logo tattooed on my arm by turgid · · Score: 5, Funny
    Because of how many times I goto starbucks in a day :)

    Argh! A BASIC programmer! In English there is no such word as "goto." :-)

  18. Yes, it's very much neccesary by lokedhs · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Du you thing the average mom cares about the fact that her windows machine has "Pentium inside"?

    It's called brand awareness. The point here is to make sure that people (and in the case of mobile phones, young people) equate "Java" with "cool games" and an "i need it" attitude. In the end this will (hopefully) mean that in order to be able to sell a phone, you need to support Java. In turn, this means that MS will have a that much harder time trying to get everyone to use the mobile version of .NET.

    In fact, here in europe we see this happening already. Every new phone that comes out has J2ME support, and when a phone doesn't have it is reviewed, it's always mentioned as a big minus point.

    I suppose (hope) we'll see the same thing happen in the US.

    By the way, didn't the latest MS "smartphones" have J2ME support these days?

    1. Re:Yes, it's very much neccesary by Milo77 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I remember reading in Andy Grove's book (something like Only the Paranoid Survive), that they thought their "Intel Inside" campaign was simply going to bias the customers to only want "Intel Inside" and be weary if they bought a computer that didn't have intel inside. Well, this did occur to some extent, but it came with a little surprise - when someone's computer didn't work, they called Intel instead of the PC manufacturer (bypass the pesky middleman, I guess). At the time, Intel didn't have the infrastructure to handle this since they were used to simply dealing with PC manufactueres and certainly not your average consumer. I wonder if Sun is ready to have my grandma call them up when her microwave stops functioning?

    2. Re:Yes, it's very much neccesary by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I can't tell if that's a nicely written troll or if you actually _want_ the world to be taken over by marketing and people who don't understand the buzzwords they throw around ...

    3. Re:Yes, it's very much neccesary by Threni · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      > The point here is to make sure that people (and in the case of mobile phones,
      > young people) equate "Java" with "cool games"

      I have a Sony Ericsson T610. When I see a Java logo I think "Slow game, possibly won't work on my phone and if it doesn it'll be very, very slowly...wonder if there'll be a Mophun release? It won't be free but it WILL work, and at an adequate speed.".

      It'll take more than posters, t-shirts and shouting at my mother to fix that little issue.

    4. Re:Yes, it's very much neccesary by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting
      I have a Sony Ericsson T610. When I see a Java logo I think "Slow game, possibly won't work on my phone and if it doesn it'll be very, very slowly...wonder if there'll be a Mophun release? It won't be free but it WILL work, and at an adequate speed.".

      Well, your SonyEricsson has crap Java support then.

      On my aging Nokia 6610 all the about dozen or so commercial J2ME games I've tried have been very snappy. No performance problems whatsoever, although the startup of the applications could be a bit quicker.
    5. Re:Yes, it's very much neccesary by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      I used to answer phones for Briggs&Stratton, which makes many of the engines on lawn mowers, generators, etc. We had the same problem. The end user was always upset when we couldn't tell them how to replace their broken wheel.

      What was really annoying was when the dimwits at the lawnmower manufacturer would tell the customer to call us for non-engine problems. It was always great getting an exasperated customer on the line who had just dealt with another service rep at another company, and I would have to tell them to call that company back because, no, the drive train is not made by us. Grr!!!

    6. Re:Yes, it's very much neccesary by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Would you rather have the mobile market taken mover my MS .NET?

    7. Re:Yes, it's very much neccesary by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The word you were looking for is 'leery', not 'weary'.

    8. Re:Yes, it's very much neccesary by Full+Meat · · Score: 1

      Even if I conceded that consumer brand awareness was a notable force for programming frameworks (which is a pretty damn big leap), why should Sun throw good money after bad? What I mean is: Microsoft threw its massive marketing machine at sexing up .NET. The whole nation saw the fancy commercials and then said "Huh?" If we already have that datapoint, why would Sun go down that same road with their junior varsity marketing team?

      I agree with the poster that said that Sun should focus on developer retention. Sun's agenda would be served best by having a lot of Java developers writing a lot of great Java software. Perhaps my perception is skewed by living in Seattle, firmly within Microsoft's "co-prosperity sphere", but Java developers are jumping to .NET in droves.

      It's not that developers are saying "Screw Java", but there are tons of companies that have a lot of VB6/COM software that need to be upgraded. Their upgrade route is invariably to .NET, and often, the closest thing to a .NET developer is a Java developer.

    9. Re:Yes, it's very much neccesary by Finuvir · · Score: 1

      I read 'wary'.

      --
      Why is anything anything?
  19. Competing stickers by eltoyoboyo · · Score: 2, Insightful

    It may seem like a lot of stuff will have Java powered stickers. However, the vast majority of microprocessor-controlled consumer electronics could well have a "[processor] Assembly Language Powered" or "[processor] Machine Language Powered" sticker - even the "Java powered" ones.

    Even if the knowledgable geek cares, Joe BestBuy consumer does not care and will not preferentially select a Java powered item.

    --
    Have you Meta Moderated t
    1. Re:Competing stickers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful
      Even if the knowledgable geek cares, Joe BestBuy consumer does not care and will not preferentially select a Java powered item.
      If it takes off, sure they will. What do you think the "Intel Inside" campaign is all about?
    2. Re:Competing stickers by TheRaven64 · · Score: 1
      A lot of embedded things use ARM cores. ARM does not manufacture chips itself, it licences designs. These designs are fairly modular, allowing you to add extra components (e.g. MMU or FPU) easily. One of these optional components is (or was, the last time I looked) a module which ran Java bytecode natively. I don't know if anyone actually uses this, but if they do then such a product really is Java powered.

      Mind you, the keyboard I use on my Mac has a `Designed for MS Windows' sticker on it, as does the external hard disk I use with it, so I don't think I'd take this branding entirely seriously...

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    3. Re:Competing stickers by Ozwald · · Score: 1

      I dunno, this seems to be more of a "finally" thing than a redundant thing. Lots of technologies do this already, like Bluetooth, Compact Disc.

      Brand recognition will go a long way and this is the cheapest way of doing it. This isn't much different than the wildly successful "IBM Compatible".

      ------
      Offtopic part: Geez Sun, Microsoft forked Java without your source code. Open Source it with the rule that ports must pass compatibility tests to be legal. I don't want to fudge with it, just run it on OpenBSD without emulation!

      Ozwald

    4. Re:Competing stickers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Even if the knowledgable geek cares, Joe BestBuy consumer does not care and will not preferentially select a Java powered item.

      Yup! This will flop just like that strange "Intel Inside" fiasco that chipmaker tried a while back!

    5. Re:Competing stickers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      One of these optional [ARM] components is... a module which ran Java bytecode natively

      The marketing term is "Jazelle"

      Looks like it's in two of their cores, an ARM7 and an ARM10.

  20. I just love that plug taco! by aardwolf204 · · Score: 1, Funny

    In other news, Starbucks will start its own awareness campaign by placing stickers of coffee cups with "$10" printed in the middle of them on various CDs, Office supplies, video games, and books.

    Shashdot has also announced that it will start an awareness campaign of its own that has the experts puzzled. Robert Potter of NetCraft says "I dont understand how the hot grits, levis, and slashdot could be so big, this was totally off our radar! totally!"

    --
    Im dreaming ofa big bndwdth, That can resist the /.crowd.May ur days b merry & bright & may al
  21. Sounds like a job I'd hate, personally by Bold+Marauder · · Score: 2, Funny

    [accosting J Random Pedestrian]"sir, I'd like to tell you about our"[gets punched and knocked to the pavement...again]

  22. But not on Space Invaders clones. by curtisk · · Score: 5, Funny

    Note: grousing about rejected Java game clones is Offtopic and usually gets moderated that way. It happens, don't take it personally.

    --

    Sehr geehrter Toilettenbenutzer!

    1. Re: But not on Space Invaders clones. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      MOD PARENT UP! Joke is on-topic (the editor brought it up in story post)! If you don't get it, you've never submitted a story here...

    2. Re: But not on Space Invaders clones. by jtheory · · Score: 1

      Note: grousing about rejected Java game clones is Offtopic and usually gets moderated that way. It happens, don't take it personally.

      I'll second that. I got one of these emails from the Sun lawyers once, and I think Taco is blowing it all a bit out of proportion.

      It's not even an "it happens" kind of thing -- it's simple trademark protection that every company does (or they lose their trademarks). You can't give something a name with "Java" in it unless you are Sun - it's that simple. I had a "Java Music Theory" website for a while, I got the letter (which was pretty amicable for a lawyerly notice), and I changed the name. You can still put the word "Java" all over your webpage - just don't put it in the name of your game.

      So... why not just change the name and move on? It's not like the programming language used it the most important aspect of the game anyway, and by removing the game entirely you're punishing everyone else for Sun's actions.

      Just my 2 cents...

      --
      There are only 10 types of people: those who understand decimal, those who don't, and, uh, 8 other types I forget.
  23. Hemos.. by linuxislandsucks · · Score: 1, Redundant

    Hemos,

    its J2ME as in Java 2 Mobile editoin not media..

    --
    Don't Tread on OpenSource
    1. Re:Hemos.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Linuxislandsucks,

      its J2ME as in Java 2 Micro edition not mobile

  24. Did you count'em? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    The last time I looked at the numbers of Java developers, it was continuousily rising.

    But don't take my word for it:
    http://uk.news.yahoo.com/040629/221/eww5e.htm l

    1. Re:Did you count'em? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Those numbers are coming directly from a Sun press release. They count every download as a "new Java developer" which is clearly incorrect. Sun is going to make the numbers sound good in Javas favor as they are marketing it. Did you watch JavaOne? The rhetoric that they come up with to avoid the facts is truly amazing.

    2. Re:Did you count'em? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "The last time I looked at the numbers of Java developers, it was continuousily rising."
      Those numbers came from a Sun press release and are clearly way off. Sun counts every download of Java as a new developer and that is clearly ridiculous.

    3. Re:Did you count'em? by gini_ · · Score: 1

      Well the numbers are not necessarily that outlandish. Of course there are many many instances where people download same SDK for different machines and different jobs even. In this case numbers are misleading of course.

      But on the other hand system administrators in bigger organizations tend to download the SDK to some network drive and point that location to developers. This SDK is then installed in several developer machines. In this case single download means many developers.

      It is very difficult to count user base for something that is freely available. Number of downloads is the best estimate Sun really has.

  25. Re:Hemos..bwahahahaha by curtisk · · Score: 0, Troll
    you beat me to it....the tears of laughter clouded my vision and I couldn't hit the submit button fast enough....

    You could say it was the submitters' error, but I'd like a job as an editor where I don't edit too!

    --

    Sehr geehrter Toilettenbenutzer!

  26. Re:Maybe I should have the logo tattooed on my arm by tcopeland · · Score: 4, Funny

    > In English there is no such word as "goto."

    Correct. He should have used "setjmp".

  27. Quit Yer Bitching by buzzcutbuddha · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Seriously, how many times are we going to have to hear someone bitch about Sun asking Taco to change the name of his Space Invader's clone? They didn't want you to yank the game Taco, they wanted you to change the name. Quit whining like a 3-year-old and get over it. It was how many years ago? It was about branding and their worries about people affiliating your game with their product. Get over yourself.

  28. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  29. cmdrtaco.net slashdotted by Seft · · Score: 5, Funny

    Oh dear, you gotta love the irony.

  30. Re:Hopefully by __aazrub2255 · · Score: 1

    Have they matured to the point where they actually work as advertised now? I have tried both of them, but admittedly not in the last year. I would have trouble chatting via AOL and Yahoo IM clients. I would either not see all of the message coming in, or they wouldn't see my comments. Unreliable = unusable, thus I uninstalled them. Likely it was due to AOl and Yahoo screwing with their clients to prevent the multi-client SW from working. Even so - annoying. I would love to see all of the providers begin using a common client.

  31. pr for a programming language ? by Alejo · · Score: 2, Insightful

    java jvms written in language X... so every device running java should say powered by java/ powered by X ?

    1. Re:pr for a programming language ? by Crackez · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Well, really, once the jvm is compiled, assembled, and linked so that it may be executed, it's just machine code. The original language used to implement it doesn't matter, ie. it's transparent.

      However, I for one would love to see "pwn3d by C" on the side of my microwave.

      It'd be sad though if we started seeing stuff like, "Powered by VB!" ... Sad indeed.

      it'd be funny, you be able to tell who the real geeks are when they goto circuit city to buy something...


      "null pointers dereferenced here" -sluts of C

  32. Java awareness by jrumney · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Before tackling Java awareness amongst the general public, you'd think that Sun would start with its own marketing department. Specifically what is and isn't Java (JDS, renaming all the old Netscape/iPlanet/Sun ONE products to Java... etc).

    No wonder the public is no clearer on what Java is than they are about .NET.

    1. Re:Java awareness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      No wonder the public is no clearer on what Java is than they are about .NET.

      Who cares? General public doesn't know "what is Pentium", but Intel still has pretty decent brand.

      As to .NET, the problem wasn't the public; it was that neither developers nor Microsoft knew what is/was .NET platform (or whether it's platform or not). For Sun it's been easy to define that well enough for developers; and going forward, the alphabet soup (J2ME, J2EE etc) is to define concrete things.

      Vague "Java", on the other hand, can and WILL be used to brand anything and everything Sun does. From "Java" Desktop System (branded Linux) to "Java" web server (ex-iPlanet, ex-Netscape server) and so on.

  33. Re:Maybe I should have the logo tattooed on my arm by RocketSHE · · Score: 1

    A goto tatoo would seem dangerous, because goto is a dangerous command. But you would have to be both super-geeky and middle-aged to understand it.

    --
    ~==>RocketSHE
  34. The Intel Inside Factor by ObsessiveMathsFreak · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Sun have finally woken up to the fact that most consumers are tech-dreads not tech-heads. They fear tech more than they welcome it and as such need to be comforted when faced with unfamiliar grounds. Intel realised this years ago and have made sure that unless there's an 'Intel Inside' ("_DUM_.do de dum DEE!") sticker on the side, people will worry and say, "What's the pentuim? Will it work without an intel inside?" Prepare for the "Is your microwave/fridge/car/computer/watch/relational_dat abase caffinated?" campaign. FUD works.

    Java on mobile has increased the framework's profile a LOT, especially amoung younger phone buyers. Even my kid brother knows about java games, and he can barely use e-mail. Java seems to mean 'fun' in the minds of some. Well maybe not, but it means Something!

    It must have finally clicked with Sun that people just won't magically get to know about java through the grapevine. You need stickers, Java Inside, Duke, Gosling's beard, hip coders(very hard to find :E) and big TV ads to promote your technology so people will say, "Hey what about Java? I'd like to have that." Essentially, to really sell a technology, no matter how good or bad it is, you have to play to the Pointy Haired Boss.

    Of course Sun would LOVE to to foster the belief out there that unless it's got Java, it's worthless. "Has it got Java? Will it work without that coffe sticker?" It could happen. I wonder will Microsoft realise a similar campaign. One based on a cup of tea perhaps? I wonder will .NET get a publicity campaign or will it just be shoved down our throats with pictures of smiling actors staring into PC screens(which we can't see). They may regret not using that cup of tea. Then again Sun may regret all that money wasted on sticker that people thought were promoting a new decaf drink.

    Disclaimer: Java is Good. Garbage collection is Smart++.

    --
    May the Maths Be with you!
    1. Re:The Intel Inside Factor by Otter · · Score: 1
      That's all true, but I wonder how many people will still think "Java? Wasn't that supposed o replace the Internet back in 1996?"

      On the other hand, maybe I'm just old and the target audience for new portable devices really doesn't remember 1996. (Should I stop wearing this flannel shirt tied around my waist? And why can't I find Zima in the store anymore?)

    2. Re:The Intel Inside Factor by BreadMan · · Score: 1

      Itel inside was a clever marketing/cobranding scheme cooked up by Intel so consumers wouldn't view computers as a commodity. When vendors sold Intel merch, some of the dollars went into a pool the vendor could use for advertising, but only it if the ads contained the "Intel inside" logo and met some other requirements. The book Marketing High Technology: An Insider's View goes over this concept in detail. IIRC, the author was one of the people who put together the Intel Inside program. The plan also gets a bit of razzing from an equally good book In Search of Supidity

      I don't see any of the kick-back elements in the plan discussed in the article. I think Sun charges a royalty for certain run time Java components, so there's a revenue stream to work with for getting program started. The controlled advertising fund is what made the Intel Inside concept work, so I hope that's part of the program.

    3. Re:The Intel Inside Factor by standsolid · · Score: 1

      So let's see here... Microsoft could take this up. But, what could Microsoft release that is similar to the "Intel Inside" dealie that you see on those computer cases. hmmmmm.... I wonder...

      --
      WTPOUAWYHTTOTWPA
      What's the point of using acronyms when you have to type out the whole phrase anyways?
  35. Re:Hopefully by __aazrub2255 · · Score: 1

    How the heck did my post get over here? I replied to the post about IM clients, not this one! http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/07/19/112624 3&tid=172&tid=126&tid=95&tid=1 Either I screwed up or the /. software. Since taking personal responsibility is anti-american, I blame /. !

  36. Compatible != compatable by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    compatable isn't a word. Sorry to bring that up.

  37. Media Edition? by lenhap · · Score: 3, Informative
    Umm come on...
    J2ME (Java 2 Media Edition) compatable.


    J2ME standands for Java 2 Micro Edition, a subset of J2SE, Java 2 Standard Edition. J2ME is meant for devices with limited resources. Wow, how did that get through to the front page...

    Heres a link...http://java.sun.com/j2me/index.jsp
    1. Re:Media Edition? by JensLH · · Score: 2, Funny

      I get the J2ME media/micro edition stuff. Now - what does "compatable" mean? :-)

    2. Re:Media Edition? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > Wow, how did that get through to the front page...

      Because the editors don't do their jobs. Seriously, who else is staying here just because it's a free place to post?

    3. Re:Media Edition? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Actually, J2ME is not a proper subset of J2SE. For example, there are no javax.microedition packages in J2SE, where there is in J2ME. Furthermore, which J2ME? There's CLDC, which is in the cell phones for example, and there's CDC which is in set top boxes, etc. While J2ME mostly is a subset of J2SE, it's also J2SE with lots of cruft and deprecated methods removed.

    4. Re:Media Edition? by realinvalidname · · Score: 1

      Also... reality check, a "media edition" of Java? From Sun? They walked away from their media framework years ago.

      --realinvalidname
  38. Also about Sun's new Java direction by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Also on eweek.com, Sun's thinking about Java extension, and other new language stuff. This is cool, but get real. I am a Java loyal, but regardless, be objective and here is what I think:

    1) Gosling is not good to head the dev department. He's good as a tech guy, but not neccessary on direction and management. Often but not always, a very very nerdy guy can hardly be a good manager. You'll see my point in the next item.
    2) Fix bugs, make swing faster, less memory hog, and fix bug. I would like to emphasize fix bug. If you search, there's over 20 thousands bug/rfe. I would use a new release with bug fixes instantly versus the new 5.0.
    3) They don't have resource, then how could they create a thing new, usable, releasable? They're so thin on dev resource (from some of their forums, their developers said so), they should concentrate them on fix bug, improve speed, make the IDE, app server betters instead. That's call wise management. It's not going to do some cool stuff.
    4) Related, but not directly. To survive, they have to bring out hardware servers out quickly, using standard/generic component instead of years in reasearch. They'll come out with new sparc in 2005. Common, AMD and Intell come out with new CPU almost every month. For servers, why the heck they keep taking so long to come out with something? Just buy a white box, test it, and ship them. (over simplified).

    You could mark me troll, but please have mercy tell me why. And also, I am really interested in your wonderful different opinions.

    1. Re:Also about Sun's new Java direction by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0


      4) Related, but not directly. To survive, they have to bring out hardware servers out quickly, using standard/generic component instead of years in reasearch. They'll come out with new sparc in 2005. Common, AMD and Intell come out with new CPU almost every month. For servers, why the heck they keep taking so long to come out with something? Just buy a white box, test it, and ship them. (over simplified).


      Question : If everyone is building white boxes, who IS doing the reasearch to make everything faster, better, et. all ?
      If everyone is a Dell where does the innovation come from?
      PC's moved up very quickly by incorporating workstation and server technology so they were able to get along for many years on less R & D then a company like SUN, IBM, or SGI. Even now, x86 cpus are just getting to 64 bit.

  39. Deccan airways mishap ! by phreakv6 · · Score: 2, Funny

    I remember the last time they tried something big in India.They sponsored the launch of Deccan Airways.There was a coffe cup on the tail and Sun logo near the cockpit.Only that the picture of the plane landed up in top news paper headlines when the plane's body was on fire... seriously.. the inaugural flight with several ministers inside,caught fire and it looked as if Sun's new aircraft caught fire !! ;).. so much for publicity..

    --
    fifteen jugglers, five believers
  40. Re:Maybe I should have the logo tattooed on my arm by FuzzyBad-Mofo · · Score: 1

    But you would have to be both super-geeky and middle-aged to understand it.

    Oh yes, ancient as 30 no doubt..

  41. With all this "product awareness"... by hal2814 · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...all our stuff will look like NASCAR. First we have a label for the brand name. Then we had the label for the processor (Motorola, Intel, AMD, TI, etc). Then we had to get a label for the OS (MS Windows). Now we have the platform running on the OS. What's next? Maybe a label for the store that sold it to you. Or they could do a label for each company that preinstalls software on the device. They could even sell advertising space on the device.

    I for one would like a plain white microwave instead of the Goldstar/Motorola/Windows CE/Lowe's labelled microwave. If I want to know what my microwave is running, I'll look it up.

    1. Re:With all this "product awareness"... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We already have this concept in cars to a certain extent. Look at the back of a recent car and you'll probably see the make and model badges (the brand name), a sticker for the dealership (the store that sold it to you), and perhaps a sticker advertising some fancy engine like "HEMI" or "Triton V8" or "VTEC" (the processor). That's four - we could easily have as many or more on a PC.

  42. Re:Maybe I should have the logo tattooed on my arm by tesmako · · Score: 1

    Or rather call-with-current-continuation.

  43. Re:Maybe I should have the logo tattooed on my arm by FoboldFKY · · Score: 1

    Curses! He hath found us out!

    Quickly my brothers, let us rise up to these class-brained oo heathens, and mightilly smite them with our spaghetti code and sluggish interpreted code! GOSUB VICTORY

    However, at the risk of being modded off topic, this whole thing smacks of "Hey, remember us? We were really big.. uh... well, a while ago. And we have this Java thing, and it's like... cool. Here, stick this on your forehead and you'll be cool, too!"

    Please Sun, how about you tidy up that mess of letters and numbers so normal people can work out what in the hell is going on.

    RETURN

    --
    We're geeks... We're the sorcerers of the modern-day world. --
  44. Media Edition by essreenim · · Score: 3, Informative

    some devices that are J2ME (Java 2 Media Edition) compatable.

    Isn't it Java_2_Micro_Edition. Im sure it is..


    And what of it? They are Java powered. They have every right to. Just as long as there isn't a really annoying noise like Intel's everytime a Dell add . etc comes on.


  45. Re:Maybe I should have the logo tattooed on my arm by LighthouseJ · · Score: 1

    Also, he should have used BRA (branch unconditionally from my Motorola 6811 assembly studies) (JMP uses absolute, but longer addresses; BRA uses shorter, relative addresses).

  46. Java Powered is desirable? by darylb · · Score: 0, Troll

    To my mind, seeing "Java Powered" on something elicits a response of "Run, Forrest, Run!" If it's a client application, it'll have a sluggish and clunky user interface and so-so performance. If it's running on an application server, it'll have a complicated J2EE structure that'd make Rube Goldberg envious, along with mediocre performance and abominable database access methods. If it's an applet, I can get the worst of both worlds!

    1. Re:Java Powered is desirable? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      ok, I usually stay out of the BS on threads such as this, but you are too much of a moron for me to hold my tongue. I can't really argue too much with your comments about Java client applications - I have seen my share of sluggish java apps. As far as the clunky user interfaces, that would be the result of an interface that is poorly planned and hardly a problem with the language itself.

      Now, as far as Java running on an application server: J2EE isn't that complicated, if you had any real experience with it, you would know that. You statement about abominable database access methods is laughable - It doesn't get much simpler than JDBC. If you don't know what you are talking about, I would suggest that you stay out of the discussion.

    2. Re:Java Powered is desirable? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      JDBC isn't the problem. (Although, it's still a tedious way to write database access procedures.) EJBs, container-managed persistence, and the like are the problem. And, better yet, the Java code to database access is so tedious that I've watched Java developers write code that's O(n!) just to avoid writing code to deal with another query or stored procedure.

      Java Powered: Buggy, slow, and late.

    3. Re:Java Powered is desirable? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      EJBs are an option that doesn't have to be used and CMPs are often not used even if the app utilizes EJBs. EJB has it's place, but it is not the only option available to the developer. As far as being tedious, there is no way to get around having to write a query to access data. If a developer isn't using a class to generate db connections for them, then it's their own fault if they choose to make things more tedious than they need to be.

    4. Re:Java Powered is desirable? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Queries aren't the problem. A language that makes it a royal pain to get data out of a query is the problem.

    5. Re:Java Powered is desirable? by SwankDude · · Score: 1

      Ever heard of Torque???

      Again, if the developer wants to make things more tedious for themselves, they can.

      --
      Good judgment comes from experience and a lot of that comes from bad judgment.
    6. Re:Java Powered is desirable? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How difficult is it to write a private method in the persist class to map the result set to an object and return that object fully initialized?

      Sounds to me like the 'Java developers' that you know don't have too much experience.

    7. Re:Java Powered is desirable? by darylb · · Score: 1

      Maybe so. But the developers I've worked with were MIT comp-sci grads proud of their credentials. Greenspun's comments are dead-on, it would seem. There are too many other languages out there that perform well while making database access straightforward and efficient for both app and database.

      I even have it on good authority that the client-server giant of the mid 90s, PowerBuilder, is making a comeback built upon the failure of Java applications to get delivered working and on-time.

    8. Re:Java Powered is desirable? by SwankDude · · Score: 1

      Oh No! Not only do I have to worry about the mass exedous of jobs due to .Net, now I have to worry about Powerbuilder too!

      Look, your friends may be MIT grads, but apparently either they don't have too much real world experience or they haven't worked with Java too much - likely writing it off without really taking the time to understand it (much like you). Your comments are ridiculous.

      --
      Good judgment comes from experience and a lot of that comes from bad judgment.
    9. Re:Java Powered is desirable? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Java's not going away. But smart IT shops will use better languages for their products. Do you want it written in Java? Or do you want it done and working?

    10. Re:Java Powered is desirable? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My Java apps work, why don't yours?

    11. Re:Java Powered is desirable? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      J2EE isn't that complicated

      It seems complicated from the stuff I have read by people who are spending time analyzing it, esp EJB 3.0 - what Java apologists can't seem to hear is that people are saying that the ratio of complexity to payoff in measurable metrics (developer learning curve, maintainability, flexibility, cost, reliability, simplicity, performance, time to market, etc) is bad, worse than other methods of achieving the same end. And there are layers of complexity - coding EJBs themselves, coding the icing to made them work together and below that you have hundreds of thousands of lines of apache foundation, JBoss, Weblogic or Websphere crap running just to prop up some web forms and web formatted database queries. Contrast that with other ways of acheiving a programming goal - bit torrent via Python, websites via PHP/db's, perl/Mason, .NET as far as I can tell every other choice probably leads to a system that is faster, with less crap and fewer total lines of code supporting the whole thing.
      People are doing java (esp J2EE) because people are doing java and J2EE, it is a group decision that went bad at some point long past, and no one can seem to reel it back in because there is too much money to still be made.

      And JDBC is, time and time again, held up as the prime example of poorly thought out, bloated API's that give Java a bad name - it is a weird thing, the Java culture that has grown up around java seems to amplify all the bad qualities of the language, the library and the VM.

      A friend of mine just got a job doing a stand alone high throughput java server, 10+ million transactions per day. Th company who eventually hired him had benn looking for a long time and after a few months of interviewing people they changed the job ad to specifically say "J2EE developers need not apply" because apparently all the J2EE people they were interviewing didn't know the first thing about how to create a real, stand alone daemon-style UNIX app, that part of the ad caught his eye and is why he applied for and subsequently got the job.

  47. Power? by OptimoosePrime · · Score: 0
    I saw a turtle the other day that had a "Java Powered" logo on his back. Here he was crawling and he had the nerve to say, "I 'run' on any architecture."

    He started to say something else, but it was getting late.

    --
    796F75617265616E65726400
  48. Avoiding JAVA... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Maybe I just don't get it, but personally, I try to avoid applications that run through the JVM, because 1) They are incredibly slow and the interface sucks and 2) There is no way to enable and disable JVM without installing it.

    I find it extremely alarming when I visit a website and all of a sudden the JVM icon shows up in my system tray. No way to know what it's doing, no way to control it, no way to stop it, NO THANKS...

    1. Re:Avoiding JAVA... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      you are correct, you just don't get it.

  49. A better logo suggestion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    a turtle

    1. Re:A better logo suggestion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      sloth, snail, worm, corner of curling linoleum, all these are good.

  50. Re:Maybe I should have the logo tattooed on my arm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You just made me remember some 68000 assembler by mentioning BRA and JMP.
    I had taken me ten years to erase it from my mind and now I will have nightmares about it forever.
    Thanks a bunch.

  51. Java phones... by shic · · Score: 2, Interesting

    They would do well to start with developer awareness...I was bemused that while I could find lots of phones touting "support for java games" - I couldn't find satisfactory documentation on what this means. I've no interest in games per-se, however given a blue-tooth phone with support for Java - I am interested in business applications. I want to find out if I can use blue-tooth phones in cryptographic authentication systems; I want to know what APIs are available to allow my phone to run bespoke messaging software. Hell - I'd like to see a sample application which amounts to more than a trivial waste of time. I can't help thinking that this technology holds the key to interesting new systems... but that won't happen if Java is just a buzzword denoting a more expensive toy.

    1. Re:Java phones... by Ilgaz · · Score: 1

      My migthy :) Siemens C55 has 320 kb of ram and I bought an application which downloads my IMAP mail and can display attached graphics in monochrome.

      Well it costed 15 or 20 bucks (can't remember), they really deserve it.

    2. Re:Java phones... by shic · · Score: 1

      Hmmm... I'd like to write some comprable applications... but I'm coming up against a brick wall finding prerequisite information.

    3. Re:Java phones... by boicy · · Score: 1
      Did you try checking out any of the links to J2ME above?

      Heres the api for starters.

      I've always found that all of this is very well documented. I've never developed an application in anger using it, but have been playing round with the technology as a client for content management on mobile devices e.g. Uploading of photos from camera phones, articles from PDA's etc.
      I think you are probably correct about it's usefulness in the future, but dig around a bit further and there is a wealth of information out there.

      Oooo oooo, more info...

  52. Strength of Branding by agentxy · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Branding is a strong advantage when it comes to marketing a product. When basic Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats* (SWOT) analysis is done on any well known business, strong brand name recognition is almost always considered an advantage.

    A great example is another Java maker, Starbucks.... Very few people are willing to pay 3 bucks for plain, regular coffee from 7-11 or McDonalds, but may are willing to fork over 3 bucks if the coffee comes in a cup with a big green Starbucks logo.

    Secondly, SUN is trying taking steps to improve its strategic position. Put yourself in SUNs position, your strongest product is JAVA. Appliances all over the world use JAVA, JAVA is taught in most colleges and universities, JAVA is widely used on the Internet, and most importantly (from SUNs point of view) JAVA isn't making SUN the money it could be.

    If I were on SUN's team, my first step would ensure regular people (moms, dads, and non-slashdotters) realize how widespread JAVA is and how "good" it is for computing. Then I would ensure regular people associate JAVA with SUN. Thirdly, (to the dismay of most slashdot readers) I would use my JAVA = SUN association to make money.

    SUN will be criticized for making moves to strengthen its position and SUN will be criticized for NOT making moves to strengthen its position, so ignore the critics, make solid technical and business decisions and do what every business was designed to do, make some money

    Thoughts?

    * Porter, M. Harvard Business School

    1. Re:Strength of Branding by Achoi77 · · Score: 1
      Agreed, but if the quality of the product is poor, branding will only get you so far. After all, look at Micros..

      nevermind

    2. Re:Strength of Branding by mjpolanco · · Score: 1

      Branding only works if it *means* something to the buyer. Volvo *means* safety...that is because Volvo is properly distinguished in the marketplace...it is differentiated...they invest more in safety technology than others and therefore area leaders. So if Sun wants to build a Java brand, then it must identify what distinguished Java devices from those that don't have it. If the buyer/consumer cannot readily tell, then YOU DON'T HAVE A BRAND. No matter how much money you pour into it. So before Sun *wastes* bucketfuls of cash on this, they need to think what distinguishes Java from everything else. The sad truth is that, at the moment, NOTHING DOES. It is a computing platform, and the applications built with it can be built to look just the same with C# or whatever. If the buyers have a *relationship* with Java Games due to their sheer abundance or quality, then they will demand "Java Powered", just like most business users demand MSFT applications. But NONE OF THIS THINKING IS IN EVIDENCE AT SUN. Perhaps Sun should build the Java Network of banks, retailers, cellphones, websites and kiosks that all talk to each other and who together deliver a seamless experience of the network to the users. If this were to happen, then the Java Network would be something *different* than anything else that is out there, and then you have a shot at building a brand.

    3. Re:Strength of Branding by agentxy · · Score: 1

      I disagree, and I present a few examples of my position:

      Starbucks - I'm not talking about the specialty coffee (mochas, frappo's, latte), but the regular coffee. Can you "readily tell" the difference between Starbucks coffee and 7-11 coffee? What about Dunkin Doughnuts coffee? Why then can Starbucks charge a premium on their coffee?

      Clothing - What is the difference between a $40 pair of Levi blue jeans and a $200 pair of Versace jeans? Are Versace jeans made of a special type of denim? Could you "readily tell" the difference between the two if all tags and identifying markings were removed?

      Prescription drugs - What is the difference between brand name drugs and generic drugs? They are made of the same ingredients. They taste the same. They both went through the same approval processes, but brand name drugs are still significantly more expensive than generic drugs... can you "readily tell" the difference between a brand name drug and a generic drug if all identifying markings were removed?

      This is why counterfeiting is so rampant and easy to do. Many times all a counterfeiter has to do is add a tag or marking similar to a popular brand. Branding doesn't necessarily represent differences in products in order to be effective...

      Thanks for the discussion

  53. Powered by Java... by Garabito · · Score: 1

    is how I feel when it's been days since I slept well and stay awake only because of cofee.

  54. "Java Inside" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That's why my cell phone takes 20 seconds to boot up. Gimme back my phone implemented with "C" that booted in 4 seconds.

    1. Re:"Java Inside" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's why my cell phone takes 20 seconds to boot up. Gimme back my phone implemented with "C" that booted in 4 seconds.

      Amen to that, my old Nextel bing! on, delete msgs pow back to the menu instantly - contrast that with my newer "i90c" (which isn't color) and it is like the programs are taking the the "little bus" to school, booting is slow, deleting is slow everything is in "java time", not real time.

  55. They don't know what Java means by Nurgled · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I remember when J2ME first became popular and I heard 12 and 13 year olds sitting in the street talking about how their phones support "Java" and how that means that they can play games on it.

    Similar things happened several times, and most of the time it was clear that none of them really knew what Java was or how it related to games or phones, it's just a name for a thing the phone does like "polyphonic ringtones" or "WAP".

    Also, I would have trouble buying "Java Powered" unless the phone's core software was running in a JVM. "Runs trivial little games and applications using Java" isn't the same as "Wouldn't work at all without Java".

    1. Re:They don't know what Java means by tfb · · Score: 1

      "Runs trivial little games and applications using Java" means that one of the things which is seriously profitable to mobile operators - downloaded games - uses Java. That's actually a big deal.

    2. Re:They don't know what Java means by mpcooke3 · · Score: 1

      "Also, I would have trouble buying "Java Powered" unless the phone's core software was running in a JVM"

      Heh. I take it you aren't a great fan of the so called "java desktop system" either :)

  56. Oh, I don't know... by Gordonjcp · · Score: 1

    If you can't use the word "Java" in the name for something running on Java, then it's a pretty poor show.

    1. Re:Oh, I don't know... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Although I agree with you, prepending the language to the app name is kind of silly. Maybe those apps have that as a warning to stay away from Java or Py(thon)?

  57. jusched.exe by incog8723 · · Score: 1

    Interesting. I just discovered jusched.exe running in my task list which will not stop loading on startup on a Win2k box. Based on several website's information, it's an automatic update utility for Java... Fucking reptiles.

  58. Here's one by turgid · · Score: 3, Funny
    Q: What's the difference between Java and C#?

    A: One is secure, reliable, mature, scalable, portable and ubiquitous with an installed base in the billions and a developer community in the millions with thousands of open source code programs written in it. The other is called C#.

    1. Re:Here's one by Tragek · · Score: 1

      How does one say c#? C++ is cee-plus-plus, so is c# c-pound?

    2. Re:Here's one by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      cee-sharp

    3. Re:Here's one by turgid · · Score: 1

      "Dee flat" works for me :-)

    4. Re:Here's one by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      C-sharp.

      The snickersnort-I'm-so-cool crowd that likes to spell things as "Windoze" or "M$" will prefer to call it C-hash, so they can run it together into Cash or Ca$h. (As if Sun isn't trying to make money on Java.)

    5. Re:Here's one by mabinogi · · Score: 1

      C Hash!

      --
      Advanced users are users too!
    6. Re:Here's one by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      actually, the C hash variant more implies that they've made a hash of it.

      Apart from that, it should be C Hash, because that's what it is.
      C Sharp is a musical note, C Hash is a programming language. Microsoft can tell themselves it's C Sharp all they like, but we know it's really C Hash.

  59. Re:Great. It's Let's' me know what to avoid.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Preach it brother!

  60. 'Power by Java' warning label by MECC · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I don't know what other people's experiences are with 'java-powered' products, but every complex application I've seen rolled out has problems far bigger than the problems solved. Worse, JAVA has yet to live up to its original claims.
    1) Write once run anywhere. I've yet to see this true of any complex app. It's problably been done, though. I just haven't seen it done.
    2) Compatibility problems. I install one version of the run-time environment for a must-have client app, and the rest break. It can be fixed, but it should never have happened in the first place.
    3) For reasons unclear, large java apps seem to suffer from some kind of fragmented UI design illness. Functions that logically belong together end up in totally different places. Its not true for all, but seems to be more frequent amongst complex java products than similar non-java apps. This, admittedly, is probably due to the fact that I usually am using network analysis and managment tools.
    4) Massive speed inconsistencies. Onde PC will run a client just fine, and different PC will barely run it at all. It can be fixed, but I've got better things to do with my time than fix Sun's problems.

    All in all, what often happens is that I end up using non-java powered solutions, just because they work. I could spend the extra time to fix all the java issues, but it just never seems worth the time and effort.

    --
    "We are all geniuses when we dream"
    - E.M. Cioran
    1. Re:'Power by Java' warning label by Homology · · Score: 1

      Indeed, the support for Java on several platforms is not very good, in fact, it's quite bad. For Windows, and distros that are Sun Partners, you can have a working Java fairly easy. Now, try the same on OpenBSD, and you will experience the Sun "Open Source" license horror that includes registering and agreeing to some nasty EULA's before downloading needed (very, very big) files that is part of the port. So, in pure irony, .NET via Mono might very well be more portable.

    2. Re:'Power by Java' warning label by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >So, in pure irony, .NET via Mono might very well be >more portable.

      FUD!

    3. Re:'Power by Java' warning label by myg · · Score: 1
      If you think Java applications are bad wait till you see how Java messes up embedded systems!

      I'm an embedded guy. I've worked on lots of products from STB's to PBX's and now automotive electronics. The only time I heard of a group using Java it turned out to be a miserable failure both with software cost overruns and a hardware BOM cost spiraling out of control.

      On a more personal note, I used to have a Nokie 5600 series cell phone. Its also my alarm clock. It never failed to wake me up. That phone died and I had to get some new Java-powered phone. Guess what. Its alarm clock feature occasionally doesn't go off. The new phone also crashes quite often (the old one never crashed).

      My phone is too busy garbage collecting so it can display cute animations that I don't care for. I want it to be a phone, damn it! If I wanted something to run small Java applications I would rent time on a high-end 32-way z/Series.

    4. Re:'Power by Java' warning label by AstroByte · · Score: 1
      And you think the alarm clock is implemented in Java do you? Just because it's "Java-powered" doesn't mean it's all written in Java. The Java VM is usually just another application on the phone which is used to run Java games (MIDlets).

      If the phone crashes when it's used as a phone it's not Java's problem. If you have Java installed on your peecee and the peecee crashes when you're using Internet Explorer, do you turn round and blame the Java VM? Knowing the rediculous amount of knee-jerk Java bashing that goes on you probably do.

  61. Great by butane_bob2003 · · Score: 1

    Instead of throwing away money on a marketing blitz, why don't they fix Swing bugs/compatibility issues?

    --


    TallGreen CMS hosting
  62. Almost everything by dexter+riley · · Score: 2, Funny

    Tiny cup logos will now be pasted on everything from cell phones to microwaves.
    But not on Space Invaders clones.


    ...and not on nuclear reactors, either!

    7.0 DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY 7.1 Licensee acknowledges that Licensed Software may contain errors and is not designed, licensed, or intended for use in the design, construction, operation or maintenance of any nuclear facility ("High Risk Activities"). Sun disclaims any express or implied warranty of fitness for such uses. Licensee represents and warrants to Sun that it will not use, distribute or license the Licensed Software for High Risk Activities.

    I like my Java hot, but not hot-as-in-glowing hot!

  63. cmdrtaco.net by lcsjk · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    cmdrtaco.net has just been slashdotted. I never thought I'd see the day!

  64. Re:Maybe I should have the logo tattooed on my arm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Dude, 30 is ancient. The relevant part of our life is already over. --AC, 32.

  65. WTF? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "not applicable"? C#?

    If you're moving from Java to C# then you've either:

    1) Thrown out your Big Iron and spent an equivilent amount on a Windows cluster

    2) Hired a bunch of people without checking if they knew the language your system is built on

    3) Got paid off by Microsoft (ie: Uni. of Waterloo)

    4) Decided you wanted something "easy" instead of something "stable"

    C# is not applicable to jack shit compared to Java right now. Most core logic is done using J2EE. If it sucks, then you hired the wrong coders. Don't throw out the baby with the bath water. Java runs on some much bigger iron than C#.

    These people must be developing piddly desktop apps that backend to something pseudo-enterprise. Works great in the lab... try scaling it out to 10,000 workers now. A company I worked for tried that. Told the poor bastards they contracted for that they'd have to buy twice the number of servers and upgrade to 2K Datacenter.

    C# is the language of people who don't know how to fucking program. They like it because it works like VB for the GUI and alows them to do the stupid OO stuff they learned in intro to data structures. They are the ones who catch exceptions with blank handlers in Java at work. They are the ones who use a 3 meg C# app to do the work of a 30 line perl script.

    Not that you can do anything about it, but I would guess that the reason why Java is having problems in your area is because it's becoming more populated with Microsoft nitwit apologists.

    (And I would blame the University of Waterloo for selling out and thinking they're smarter than the rest of the world, allowing all the Canadians to think "If it's good enough for our best CS school, it's good enough for us!")

    1. Re:WTF? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      University of Waterloo didn't sell out, the Math faculty (where the Computer Science program falls under) is still MS-free to a large extent, only those people over in the Engineering faculty sold out.

    2. Re:WTF? by hackrobat · · Score: 2, Insightful

      They are the ones who catch exceptions with blank handlers in Java at work.

      You know what, that's why Anders Hejlsberg didn't add checked exceptions to C#--because half the programmers don't handle them and instead just ignore them, because Java won't let you be otherwise. In C#, you ignore all exceptions and they propogate up (without having to declare them in the method signature). That's an improvement over Java, sorry.

      And what are you talking about, C# or .NET? Surely, you mean .NET application don't scale up. C# is just a language.

    3. Re:WTF? by Crazen · · Score: 1

      You know what, that's why Anders Hejlsberg didn't add checked exceptions to C#--because half the programmers don't handle them and instead just ignore them, because Java won't let you be otherwise. In C#, you ignore all exceptions and they propogate up (without having to declare them in the method signature).

      Yup, and VB is RAD. Just because you can, it doesn't mean you should. Checked Exceptions are just as valuable as types. If you don't believe in types, or checked exceptions, then it probably means you're not suited for large scale application development.

      Microsoft most likely didn't use checked exceptions because

      1. all those old programs would have to be rewritten rather than converted to run under .NET, which would slow down .NET adoption.
      2. the low-end programmer would have a bigger barrier to entry, having to understand exceptions.

      That's an improvement over Java, sorry. Sorry, I can't disagree with you more. However I will mention that I like C#, they added some nice features and caused some healthy competition between C# and Java. Because of C# Java 5 quickly got

      • Type safe enums
      • A better thread API
      • meta data (yummy!)
      • templates (Finally!)
      • autoboxing (convenient but I still like to be explicit)
      • simplistic looping syntax (another conveniance that I could have done without, but it's to appeal to the VB crowd)
      Of course I still prefer Java just because of the mature and open source tools available out there. Just take a look at the # downloads of the various unit testing frameworks out there. It just appears to me that Java has just started (in widespread use outside of academia that is) a far more evolved perspective on software development.

      To me Microsoft has always dismissed the flexible, scaling, and secure method to develop back end software, and seems to promote hacks. While the hacks may be cunning, they usually are quite detrimental in the long term. And almost all Microsoft technology leads to vendor lock in.

    4. Re:WTF? by cdemon6 · · Score: 2, Informative

      I don't agree with you. Most Exceptions are likely to appear and can be corrected by the app itself (SocketTimoutException just to name one), and you are forced to catch them (if you don't want to catch all, just catch Exception and you'll get everything). And exceptions like Nullpointers are *still* shown to you if they occur even if they don't have to be catched...

    5. Re:WTF? by Ars-Fartsica · · Score: 2, Insightful
      C# is the language of people who don't know how to fucking program.

      Are you trying to tell me there are more lame-ass resume-engineers claiming C# more than Java? Haha right. I think the tinfoil is coming off of your hat.

    6. Re:WTF? by Full+Meat · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Insightful? I object to the rating more than this ignorant troll!

      1)Thrown out your Big Iron and spent an equivilent amount on a Windows cluster

      Or maybe your company is one of the thousands that have battalions of MCSEs and volume licensing agreements with MS, so a Windows platform decision happens to make more sense.

      I like the auto shop mentality though.

      2) Hired a bunch of people without checking if they knew the language your system is built on

      Huh?

      3) Got paid off by Microsoft (ie: Uni. of Waterloo)

      No, Lone Gunman-boy, it's usually the other way around; it'll cost you a couple grand to lay down your first line of .NET code. The MS camp isn't the one with free IDEs, open source OS and app servers, and free databases.

      4) something "easy" instead of something "stable"

      Any examples or metrics, or are you just pulling that out of your ass? I have many issues with the .NET Framework, but stability is not among them.

      C# is the language of people who don't know how to fucking program. They like it because it works like VB for the GUI

      You're really shooting your argument in the foot here. C# is such a direct ripoff of Java that one can change a few package and class names in Java source and compile it in .NET. Given this, you cannot throw shit at the C# language without getting a lot of it on Java.

      alows them to do the stupid OO stuff they learned

      Wow, you're totally showing your ass here. You're a Java/J2EE fanboy, but OO is "stupid" introductory stuff? Anybody see the Chappelle's Show sketch about Clayton Bigsby, the blind white supremacist who, unbeknownst to himself, is black?

      They are the ones who use a 3 meg C# app to do the work of a 30 line perl script.

      Ah, you're a perl man. I understand now why you eschew OO. Whenever perl guys throw down the "how many lines" thing, I think of that scene in the movie "Amadeus" when Emperor Joseph II tells Mozart that "There are too many notes." Shit, if I was half the developer you are, I would give my PM my estimates in number of lines, not number of hours. Why stop there? Code readability/maintainability and object-oriented archtecture have no place in enterprise software solutions, which explains why perl is sweeping the nation as the #1 language of choice for large enterprise apps.

      A Sun Certified Developer

    7. Re:WTF? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Most core logic is done using J2EE. If it sucks, then you hired the wrong coders."

      Shouldn't it be "if J2EE sucks, Sun hired the wrong coders"? Check out the O'reilly book "Better, Faster, Lighter Java" about the problems with J2EE.

    8. Re:WTF? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      C# is not applicable to jack shit compared to Java right now.

      C# is already clearly a better language design than Java. C# implementations aren't as good as Java implementations yet, but they are catching up fast.

      Most core logic is done using J2EE.

      Gosh, what a one-track mind--as if everybody in the world were writing enterprise apps.

      C# is the language of people who don't know how to fucking program. They like it because it works like VB for the GUI

      And it's the language for people who don't want to put up with Sun's proprietary implementations. And it's the language for people who don't like the limitations of the Java language. And it's the language for people who want to write open source apps using open source APIs like Gnome. There are lots of different reasons to use C#.

      and alows them to do the stupid OO stuff they learned in intro to data structures

      Honey, you learn about OO in software engineering; "intro to data structures" teaches you about "data structures". Get it? That's why it's called "intro to data structures").

    9. Re:WTF? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Properties and operator overloading are inconsequential. The one thing C# got right was a unified type system (all types derive from System.Object). But it dropped checked exceptions and inner and anonymous classes and added "delegates" (an ugly efficiency hack which completely disregards interfaces and inheritance), all serious blunders.

      Besides, these languages are both tepid rehashes of ideas that have already been done better years ago (Eiffel, ML). The safe runtimes and bundled class libraries are the only reason to pay any attention to them.

    10. Re:WTF? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The answer is to take those programmers out and beat them, not to codify their stupidity into the CLS so the rest of us don't even have the option of design by contract!

    11. Re:WTF? by Demiah · · Score: 1
      ..half the programmers don't handle them and instead just ignore them, because Java won't let you be otherwise.
      I'm sorry, are you saying "Java won't let me handle exceptions, so I have to ignore them"??? Pfft.

      Yup, I'm yet another one of these professional Java developers that seem so numerous round here, and have been for some 5 very happy years or so.

      I've looked at C# a little, but I'm not really familiar enough with it to diss it as I've no intention of ever learning it unless/until the employment choices offered by Java dry up - which I see no signs of happening yet, or at least for another couple of years.

      As frequently mentioned, the use of Exception handling by less than competent developers - either empty catch blocks, or throwing the stack trace to stdout - IMHO just as bad quickly lead to an app behaving no better than any other poorly written app in any other language. How can you blame the lack of any error handling code in your app on the language you've used?

      If C# only has unchecked exceptions (eqivalent to Java's RuntimeExceptions) - or makes the assumption that every method "throws Exception", you think those naff developers (and how I wish they would all jump ship to C#) will be writing more robust apps any time soon? I'd say it would make the task more difficult - It's the RuntimeExceptions that cause us most problems..

      --
      Have fun. Or failing that, be miserable with style.
  66. Re:Maybe I should have the logo tattooed on my arm by cpghost · · Score: 1

    (display "#t\n")

    --
    cpghost at Cordula's Web.
  67. J2ME by psyconaut · · Score: 2, Informative

    "J2ME (Java 2 Media Edition)"

    No, Java 2 Micro Edition.

    -psy

  68. test by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    test

  69. MS Logo: "Dot Net, Get Caught-up In It" by lcsjk · · Score: 1

    Nothing more to say!

  70. Yo, James Gosling - Where's my 64-bit Java? by mosel-saar-ruwer · · Score: 1

    Or maybe I should say: What's the purpose of purchasing a 64-bit operating system like Solaris if its flagship interface is 32-bits?

    Don't believe me? Try javac-ing the following under Java 1.5.x:

    public class SixtyFourBit
    {
    public static void main (String args[])
    {
    long theLong = 1;
    theLong <<= 32;
    theLong += 1;
    System.out.println("theLong = " + theLong);

    double [] theDoubleArray = new double[theLong];
    }
    }

    Lotsa luck.

    1. Re:Yo, James Gosling - Where's my 64-bit Java? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      you are allocating an array of 4 billion doubles precision floating points!

      do you really have 32GB of RAM in your machine for this task or are you just complaining for the fun of it??

      (4 * 10^9 * sizeof(double) equals at least 32 GB)

    2. Re:Yo, James Gosling - Where's my 64-bit Java? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Do you REALLY think that the point of 64 bit machines is having bigger integers?
      We've started using 64-bit solaris and guess what? It wasn't because we needed bigger numbers. Are you going to give up on C# the day your integers don't fit in 64 bits?

  71. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 1

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  72. how is this any different? by deanj · · Score: 1

    How is this any different than any other tech marketing campaign?

    Microsoft bombards us with Windows-everything
    Intel bombards us with "Intel-inside", Pentium-whatever

    This is no different. These want people to recognize the brand, so they'll think there is "value add" in whatever they're buying.

    Whether or not there really IS "value add" remains to be seen.

  73. Aw dammit! by dacarr · · Score: 1

    That stupid sticker just bombed my OS/2 machine. It sucks.

    --
    This sig no verb.
  74. bolle by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    testjoika

  75. hemos is a big cry baby by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    if you do not protect a trademark it becomes dilluted and you lose it. is that too hard to understand or is the name of your clone game more important? would you allow any of us slashdotters to abuse slashdot in any way we wish?

    1. Re:hemos is a big cry baby by Hemos · · Score: 0

      If they had simply requested something that says "Java is a registered TM of Sun" or some such, I think it would have been fine.

      But moreover, it's the irony of them now plastering it everywhere, but destroying any grass roots usage of it.

      --
      Yeah, I'm that guy.
  76. Just had to look this one up... by Pippity · · Score: 2, Interesting
    ...and lo and behold, it wasn't made up!

    This site has decent pictures. Big Java logo near the cockpit, and a big Sun logo on the tail. Before and after. Ouch!

  77. Way to screw yourselves over by SuperKendall · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Voting to oust Java is the surest way to become the MCDonalds workers of the IT industry - if you can even find the jobs.

    I am a little sad to see great teaching languages like Scheme fall to the wayside though. I think there is great value in teaching people Scheme first instead of Java or C# to start with.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  78. which implies... by tunabomber · · Score: 1

    ...that IBM must be on crack. After all, they spent all that money advertising a technology that they obviously won't be able to make any money from because it's GPL'd.

    --

    pi = 3.141592653589793helpimtrappedinauniversefactory71 ...
  79. Bytecode by pjt33 · · Score: 1

    It's a Java story - check out the mnemonic for bytecode 0xa7.

  80. Re:Maybe I should have the logo tattooed on my arm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    OK, yeah I know it's a joke, but I'm compelled to point out that 'setjmp' isn't really analogous to 'goto'. 'longjmp' is kind of like a goto, 'setjmp' is more like a label (the target of a goto). If we're talking about C, that is.

  81. Why? by Jesus+2.0 · · Score: 1

    Something I've never really understood about this: Why do they spend money promoting Java? I mean, they're a business, so presumably they're investing money in hopes of a larger payoff.

    But how does that payoff come?

    They give away Java for free. It runs on any hardware, not just theirs. Everybody knows that - in fact it's one of Java's main selling points.

    It seems like the classic South Park underpants gnomes' reasoning.

    1. Re:Why? by rdr2 · · Score: 1

      Hehe...

      Step 3. Profit!

    2. Re:Why? by Crazen · · Score: 1

      They make their money through Licensing. Like how getting J2EE sticker on your software costs a hell of a lot.

  82. Well, hm. by Mongoose+Disciple · · Score: 1

    That doesn't necessarily mean anything, other than (if accurate) the fact that new people are picking up Java at a greater rate than people who already knew Java are dying. Once a Java developer always a Java developer, no?

    I mean, I like Java. I'm certified by Sun as a Java developer. I'm probably counted in any number of Java developers statistic you care to name.

    That said, it's been over two years since I've been offered any Java work. I know there are still projects out there being built on Java technology -- friends of mine work on them -- but it seems like the percentage of projects using Java is less than 2-3 years ago.

    Obviously, if you're starting up an open source project or working on something on your own, you can use whatever language you want. But if (note, I'm not saying this is a foregone conclusion) project managers and companies stop wanting Java to be used for their projects, the language will become less relevant, number of Java developers or no.

  83. I go where the jobs are! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Heheh....look at all the job stats and you'll see Java burying every other language out there in terms of actual demand. I go where the money is, and Java is it - not c-sharp, not php, not whatever.

    You guys just keep on burying your head in the sand, since Java right now is probably the most widely deployed language in IT history, what with the new cars (BMWs), smartcards, SIM cards, mobilke cellphones, server apps, desktop apps runniung Java.

    I KNOW i'll have a job 5-10 years from now doing Java when you guys are trying to learn the next new language from Microsoft or whomever.

    1. Re:I go where the jobs are! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Thats what yesterdays cobol programmers said. Sure there are cobol jobs, but how many now?
      Me, I prefer to keep pace with technology. I've worked on projects requiring Assember, C, C++, Java and now C#. They are just languages not a religion.

  84. Open source knows where the money is too by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Even Apache is releasing its own Java J2EE application server called Geronimo!

    Apache Geronimo

  85. pronouncing C# by Clueless+Moron · · Score: 1

    I prefer to call "D flat", myself...

  86. Re:Maybe I should have the logo tattooed on my arm by Clueless+Moron · · Score: 1

    68000? You should be thankful it wasn't x86 assembler. Now THAT's nightmare material.

  87. Hmmm: Java 32-bits, C# 64-bits... by mosel-saar-ruwer · · Score: 1

    do you really have 32GB of RAM in your machine for this task or are you just complaining for the fun of it??

    I mean, really - 640K should be all that anyone could ever want, right?

    Back to my original question, though: What is the point of a 64-BIT OPERATING SYSTEM if its FLAGSHIP INTERFACE is only 32-BITS? And will remain 32-bits into the foreseeable future?

    How can a salesman in the Solaris division try to sell his clients a 64-bit operating system on exhorbitantly expensive 64-bit hardware, when, just last week, a salesman from the Java division dropped by and told the very same client that 32-bits was all they'd ever need?

    Seems like the client might as well stick with a 32-bit Win32 platform running on 32-bit hardware.

    Or, better yet, upgrade to a 64-bit platform [Win64] running on 64-bit hardware [AMD x86-64] with a true 64-bit interface [C# & the CLI].

    All at a tiny fraction of the cost...

  88. we WANT the JVM sources NOW!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    We want j2sdk-1_5_0-beta2-src-scsl.zip (or j5sdk-5_0-beta2-src-scsl.zip?) but it actually is not available to any developer or to any public comunity's people.

    Mc Nealy from Sun has lied us for many months and years.

    We want the updated sources of JVM, NOW!!!

    Else we would can do many fucked forks!!!

    open4free ©

  89. we WANT the JVM sources NOW!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    We want j2sdk-1_5_0-beta2-src-scsl.zip (or j5sdk-5_0-beta2-src-scsl.zip?) but it actually is not available to any developer or to any public comunity's people.

    Mc Nealy from Sun has lied us for many months and years.

    We want the updated sources of JVM, NOW!!!

    Else we would can do many fucked forks!!!

    open4free ©

  90. we WANT the JVM sources NOW!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    We want j2sdk-1_5_0-beta2-src-scsl.zip (or j5sdk-5_0-beta2-src-scsl.zip?) but it actually is not available to any developer or to any public comunity's people.

    Mc Nealy from Sun has lied us for many months and years.

    We want the updated sources of JVM, NOW!!!

    Else we would can do many fucked forks!!!

    open4free ©

  91. we WANT the JVM sources NOW!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    We want j2sdk-1_5_0-beta2-src-scsl.zip (or j5sdk-5_0-beta2-src-scsl.zip?) but it actually is not available to any developer or to any public comunity's people.

    Mc Nealy from Sun has lied us for many months and years.

    We want the updated sources of JVM, NOW!!!

    Else we would can do many fucked forks!!!

    open4free ©

  92. we WANT the JVM sources NOW!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    We want j2sdk-1_5_0-beta2-src-scsl.zip (or j5sdk-5_0-beta2-src-scsl.zip?) but it actually is not available to any developer or to any public comunity's people.

    Mc Nealy from Sun has lied us for many months and years.

    We want the updated sources of JVM, NOW!!!

    Else we would can do many fucked forks!!!

    open4free ©

  93. Re:Maybe I should have the logo tattooed on my arm by andreyw · · Score: 1

    You mean longjmp ;-)

  94. Re:Maybe I should have the logo tattooed on my arm by tcopeland · · Score: 1

    > You mean longjmp

    Heh, very true. Actually, originally I framed my post as "you mean setjmp/longjmp", but it just seemed too wordy :-)

  95. A long time ago .. by guacamole · · Score: 2, Interesting

    .. in a gallaxy far away there exited a company called Netscape. In addition to their famous web browser, they made various server products (the web server, application server, directory server, etc) for the enterpise. Eventually, their marketing droids have mis-managed the Netscape brand name (and the company web site) to the point where they had to rename their server division and all their server products into "iPlanet". Then they got transferred to Sun, and Sun decided to use the "Sun ONE" brand name for all of this ex-netscape stuff. Now it looks like they are willing to sacrifice this perfectly fine brand name and to confuse their customers even further by renaming their SunONE product line into SunJAVA product line. At this point this is getting really silly now that you suddenly have products like "SunJAVA Directory server" which have little to do with the Java language other than their terrible admin tools are written in Java (we have decided to dump the SunONE DS in favor of OpenLDAP becaususe of SunONE's terrible Java-based admin interface and the lack of proper documentation for CLI tools even though it comes free with Solaris). In the past they also had to rename their OS (SunOS -> Solaris), to rename their compiler suite MULTIPLE time, and to change the versioning scheme for Solaris and Java. Way to go Sun! I am sure they'll rename this whole SunJAVA product line again in a couple of years. When a company feels so insecure about its brands and renames its products so often, many people including me generally see it as a sign of weakness, and not as an improvement.

  96. J2ME - Java 2 WHAT edition? by Dodger73 · · Score: 1

    The poster of this article may have wanted to do a little more research.
    J2ME is the Java 2 Micro Edition, not Media edition. Jeez.

  97. "Java encumbered"? by ultrabot · · Score: 1

    That sticker would sell better in some developer circles...

    --
    Save your wrists today - switch to Dvorak
  98. You missed my point. by mosel-saar-ruwer · · Score: 2, Informative
    Do you REALLY think that the point of 64 bit machines is having bigger integers?

    The point is not that the "integers" are a different size on a 64-bit machine.

    The point is that the counters that you use to index Java arrays are limited to 32-bits worth of [albeit relative] addresses, rather than the full 64-bit addresses of the underlying hardware and its operating system.

    And yes, there are plenty of things that need to cross the 2 ^ 32 = 4 "Giga" barrier. Such as, for instance, high quality MPEGs of Gone With the Wind or Titanic.

  99. It's not so bad by jbmarsh80 · · Score: 1

    So, we will only have 72 stickers on the back of our PDAs. At least they haven't started advertising on it....

  100. Try to think about bigger apps by lokedhs · · Score: 1
    But if they are not caught, then the stupid developer (note: almost all developers are stupid, we all know this) will not catch it. He will ignore a FileNotFoundException for example, the exception will propagate up, get printed on stdout (which the users never see) and the whole damn thread will die.

    This may be good for your average VB-type desktop app, but for a multi threaded backend server this is a disaster. Such things simply should never be allowed to occur.

    The special thing about the checked exceptions are that they can be thrown even from perfectly bug-free apps. No amount of coding can protect you from the odd IOException when your TCP connection is broken for example. Java does a tremendous job of helping the developer deal with this. It does this, just like a previous poster said, in a way that is similar to static types.

    Static types are good, right? Helps us find bugs at the cost of a bit more code and more redundancy. The similarities to checked exceptions are quite obvious.

    1. Re:Try to think about bigger apps by clambake · · Score: 1

      But if they are not caught, then the stupid developer (note: almost all developers are stupid, we all know this) will not catch it. He will ignore a FileNotFoundException for example, the exception will propagate up, get printed on stdout (which the users never see) and the whole damn thread will die.

      This may be good for your average VB-type desktop app, but for a multi threaded backend server this is a disaster. Such things simply should never be allowed to occur.


      Depends on if you'd rathar your server die and tell you it can't find the password file than to ignore it an let everyone in by default.

    2. Re:Try to think about bigger apps by lokedhs · · Score: 1
      No. You're wrong. You're wrong to the point I wonder if you ever wrote good Java code in your life.

      With no checked exceptions: The thread will die and it is not entrely unlikely that the entire server will die.

      With checked exceptions: the developer will be forced to deal with th eprogram when he writes the code. In this case, he can choose himself what do when the file isn't found (accept or deny the login request). He can, of course, also kill the server in this case.

    3. Re:Try to think about bigger apps by clambake · · Score: 1

      You do know that the JVM doesn't actually check exceptions, don't you? It's all compiler sugar.

      Seriously, would you rathar let a mission critical application die outright or perform with UNEXPECTED BEHAVIOR? People who catch exceptions with a an empty {} are DANGEROUS.

    4. Re:Try to think about bigger apps by lokedhs · · Score: 1
      Where did you get impression I was talking about runtime behaviour here? Maybe you are unaware that an unchecked exception in Java is called a runtime exception?

      The real advantage lies in that the developer is forced to deal with his exception instead of just letting them ripple up. You do know what happens in java if a runtime exception (i.e. an unchecked exception) is allowed to ripple all the way up to Thread.run()? Exactly, it terminates the thread. A thread suddenly dying in a complex multi-threaded server is not a good thing.

      Besides, I think we both agree that people who creates an empty catch should be fired right there and then. But a language can never completely protect itself from idiot programmers. At least when he creates that empty catch, he makes the cocious descision to be an idiot. In these cases he probably should just let a higher level method call deal with it.

    5. Re:Try to think about bigger apps by clambake · · Score: 1

      Ok, so let me try again, the point I am trying to make is that when an exception occours that you were NOT ready for, in most cases the very best thing your system can do is crash right there. You can check all the FileNotFound exceptions that you want, whenever you want, but when you get an exception that you wren't prepared to deal with, letting it propigate all the way up and kinning the entire JVM is always safe.

      A complex multi-threaded application will have subtle interactions going on all the time between all of the various components. A rouge thread, one that SHOULD be doing X, but due to an unexpected exception is now doing Y, could be running around destroying your system and never letting you know until if long past too late. Imagine some funny code where the part of the code that starts and handles your database transaction goes down, but the part of your code that writes to the database is still going strong. Do you honestly think in such a situation it's a good idea to let threads be writing to the database unprotected, with no transactional logic in place?

      Sure, that's an arbitrary example, but think about it logically. You are not God, so you can't write some magic "generic" error handling code that will always put a faulty application into a good state no matter what the error. But you can stop the machine from doing potential harm while it's in an unknown state. You can also know when an error occoured as soon as it happens, instead of weeks later when you you begin to get the first glimpses of an amazingly serious flaw that has left your entire system corrupt.

      From a risk management perspective, which is easier to deal with: a hundred bitching customers who are experiencing unexpected downtime, or a hundred bitching customers that found out that the rouge server just sent "sell" commands on every share of thier stock. In the first case, you may lose a few customers, in the second you may lose your entire company in lawsuits.

      (Case in point, not about Java, but just to illustrate. I worked at a company that had no backups for over 6 months while believeing that they did, becuase the huge backup machine they spent big bucks on kept answering requests and kept chugging along even though it's disks were full. IF it had died outright, we would have know the day it died instead of after it was too late.)

    6. Re:Try to think about bigger apps by lokedhs · · Score: 1
      I'm terribly sorry to have to say this (I have been trying to keep this discussion civilised). But you can't possibly have written much Java code if you believe that you are supposed to have a "generic" way to handle the checked exceptions. The point of checked exceptions is exactly the opposite. The idea is that every time you make a call which may throw an exception even though you've done everything else right (that's the difference between a checked exception and an unchecked exception (i.e. RuntimeException)) you must sit down , take a deep breah, and consider what you should do in case this happens. SHould the system crash? Fine, crash the system. Should it try again? Fine, try again. Should it kill the currently logged in user? Again, fine, do that. Never ever should to defer execution to some generic exception handler and then keep running. Anyone even considering that should be fired.

      My point is not about unexpected exceptions. Those are declared as RuntimeException in Java anyway and you don't have to explicitly catch them.

      The exceptions you do have to catch, however, are the ones that can occur even in a perfectly working program. There is no way you can program your way around the fact that you can get an IOException, that's why it's declared as a checked exception.

      If IOException was not checked, then the simple case of a missing file, or a broken network connection would be considered "unexpected" and cause the entire app to crash (of you're lucky). Such a problem will probably not be discovered until much later, and probably by a customer. The fact that Java forces you to make an active choice on what to do is good.

      Remember, no one forces you to actually deal with the exception. In some cases it's not even desirable. No one prevents you from wrapping the exception, or declaring it in the throws clause of your method. The point here is that the exceptions are part of the API not just somehting that happens. This is a very good thing.

      Oh, and another thing (I already mentioned this in an earlier post of mine). There are cases where certain methods are declared to throw checked exceptions even if they shouldn't, simply because it implements an interface which declares that exception. A good example is StringWriter.write(). We know this method will never throw an exception so you can safely ignore it. A good way is to write it is to wrap it in a

      try { } catch(IOException e) { assert false : e.getMessage(); }
      Still, I feel that the advantages outweigh the occasional annoyance. Like I said earlier: Just because it's boring to deal with exceptions is no reason to to let them propagate.
    7. Re:Try to think about bigger apps by clambake · · Score: 1

      I'm terribly sorry to have to say this (I have been trying to keep this discussion civilised). But you can't possibly have written much Java code if you believe that you are supposed to have a "generic" way to handle the checked exceptions.

      I'm sorry to say this, but you must not have been speaking the enlgish language long if you think that's what I'm advocating. I'm advocating precisely the opposite.

      My point is not about unexpected exceptions.

      My point IS about unexpected exceptions.

      The exceptions you do have to catch, however, are the ones that can occur even in a perfectly working program. There is no way you can program your way around the fact that you can get an IOException, that's why it's declared as a checked exception.

      If IOException was not checked, then the simple case of a missing file, or a broken network connection would be considered "unexpected" and cause the entire app to crash (of you're lucky).


      Well, there are many ways around programming a checked exception, everything from using reflection (essentially converting it into other checked exceptions, or by using a compiler that doesn't care about exceptions. Checked exceptions are only checked athe compiler level... But I digress.

      Unexpected is any exception that is thrown that you aren't catching. The APIs do NOT list every exception that can be thrown, only a few. What's the difference between not being able to read a file of name X because it doesn't exist or getting a null pointer exception because name X was null? Both of those situations are indentical in terms of recoverability.

      If there were no checked exceptions you could still just as easily catch and deal with the unchecked exceptions. But you wouldn't be lead into a false sense of security thinking that you've dealt with all the "important" exceptions.

      Such a problem will probably not be discovered until much later, and probably by a customer. The fact that Java forces you to make an active choice on what to do is good.

      Having the customer find it is NOT always bad. If you can't find your config file, the user should know as soon as possible, don't you agree?

      The fact is, Java only forces you to make an active choice SOMETIMES, and the rest of the time it doesn't, and there is no clear distinction as to when or why this happens. Why declare a IOException as checked but a NumberFormatException when you parseInt() as unchecked? Logically, the NumberFormatException is actually MORE likely to occor in common usage because you are more likely to be taking user input as strings (i.e. if you were trying to make an int in code, you probably already know what the int is that you want thus would hard code it).

      Why is this a better approach than, say, one that allows you to declare exceptions (for API purposes) but doesn't force you to deal with them?

      Oh, and another thing (I already mentioned this in an earlier post of mine). There are cases where certain methods are declared to throw checked exceptions even if they shouldn't, simply because it implements an interface which declares that exception. A good example is StringWriter.write(). We know this method will never throw an exception so you can safely ignore it. A good way is to write it is to wrap it in a

      try { } catch(IOException e) { assert false : e.getMessage(); }


      Just out of curiosity, why are you intentionally losing the stack trace of e? Wouldn't you like to see how the heck a StringWriter threw and IOException? And why allow somone to turn off this "wrapping" by disabling asserts? In fact, if I remember correctly, unless somone is specifically turning them on, they are disabled by default. You could be throwing an IOException here which would silently get eaten. All you need is to run your program using a non-compliant set of library binaries, perhaps some implementation of java that your client decided they were going to write by themselves back in

    8. Re:Try to think about bigger apps by lokedhs · · Score: 1
      I don't think I'm the person with a poor grasp of the english language.

      I say one thing, and you answer with somehting completely different.

      All I will do now is to clarify a few things. Then go back with a blank mind and read what I said.

      Checked exceptions are (should be) used when there is no way you can programatically about the exceptional situation from occurring. Wether you can fake yourself out of having to catch it is irrelevant. The exeption still occurs.

      And for the umptenth time: I have never said it's a good thing to continue in an untested state! Read what I said again. I never ever even hinted this.

      Sigh... Let me try to show you a code example:

      BufferedReader in = ...;
      String name = in.readLine(); // can throw IOException
      in.close();

      return name;
      In a language such as C#, which doesn't have checked exceptions this code would compile and run quite happily, right? However, if the file happens to be missing, or you don' thave permission to it the exception will ripple up right to the top level Thread.run(). What Thread.run() does if it throws an exception is to kill the thread!. This is not good, and it might be a very long time until the error condition occurs.

      Now... The Java compiler will not compile this. So you need to do something about it. Doing so will mean you make an active choice at what to do. Either you do something like this:

      try {
      // the same code as above
      }
      catch(IOException e) {
      return "(name not found)";
      }
      Then you have make an active choice that in case of an IOException you return the string "(name not found)". This may be very good. Depends on the situation, and only the programmer knows this.

      Another possible candidate is this:

      try {
      // again, the same code
      }
      catch(IOException e) {
      logger.log(Level.SEVERE, "File missing, can't do anything. Terminating application.", e);
      System.exit(1);
      }
      In this case, the developer made the active choice to terminate the application. Might also be a very good idea, depending on situation.

      Note how in no case am I continuing to run untested code like you say. This only happens if the developer is a stupid moron who uses empty catch blocks, but I have said on repeated occations that those programmers should be doing any programming anyway.

      This is the last I have to say on this, because if you still don't understand I can't explain it to you.

  101. Using Java in a product name by tepples · · Score: 1

    The right way to say it according to Sun: TACO INVADERS(tm) for Java(tm) platform

  102. Greenspun needs some clues... by rewt66 · · Score: 1

    I read his piece. The big eye-opener came in the comments. About 30 comments down is a place where Greenspun, in reply to someone else, states that MIT doesn't actually teach Java to their CS students. They teach Scheme. But by the time that his students are struggling with JSP on a project, they are producing 10,000-line Java programs.

    This is so whacked, it's hard to know where to begin. Does MIT assume that learning Scheme automatically teaches you how to use every programming language? Did it ever occur to them that different programming languages might best be used differently?

    Do these hot-shot MIT students really know how to use Java? Or do they try to use it as a less-capable Scheme? Do they really know Java at all, or can they just muddle through with it?

    You take a bunch of hotshot MIT seniors who have been told that they can program anything in any language, but don't actually know how to use Java, turn them loose on a JSP project, and they make a mess of it. And this is Java's fault how?

    The problem here is not Java. The problem is academic arrogance - "our students know everything, even stuff we couldn't bother to teach them!"

    1. Re:Greenspun needs some clues... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Java is one of the best-documented programming languages ever offered. If they weren't willing and able to pick it up on their own, if they just want a certificate that says they read the assigned textbook, they should have tried for a MCSE instead of wasting a seat in a university.

  103. And here I thought it was Millenium Edition by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    nt ...

  104. It's easy... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Control Panel->Java->update->
    Uncheck the "check for updates automatically" checkbox.

  105. Nonsense! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The Java developer base increased by 1 million to 4 million in the last year alone.
    Nobody outside Microsoft's fan base of high school kids is interested in C#.
    For real enterprise apps use J2EE like everyone else including IBM, Oracle, Sun, BEA, Macromedia etc. etc. etc.