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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.
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
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?
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.
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
> 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....
The Army reading list
java jvms written in language X... so every device running java should say powered by java/ powered by X ?
No wonder the public is no clearer on what Java is than they are about .NET.
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.
: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.
.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.
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
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
Disclaimer: Java is Good. Garbage collection is Smart++.
May the Maths Be with you!
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.
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
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.
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".
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.
unfortunately Java makes everything slower
Join Team Mozilla #38050 Folding@home
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.
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.
"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!")
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