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A Look at Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless
An anonymous reader writes "Qualcomm's BREW is proving an increasingly addictive end-to-end wireless development solution, although it does come with a hitch. In this month's Roaming charges, Larry Loeb chats with the folks at Qualcomm about the pros and cons of the company's security certification system, then taste tests BREW's highly caffeinated code for himself."
..if you want a preview of the 'secure computing' future.
seriously, if you're small time or considering doing it for free, or as a hobby, it's not an option. neither is it a real option for inhouse stuff. neither is it fit for something you'd like people from all over the world to use.
if you want to target just their system with just their rules, it's ok. but remember, it's mostly tuned to make _them_ money. and makes doing tiny niche apps a bit stupid because whats the point when burocracy takes more time than writing the app itself.
well, can't speak firsthand because it's not available here, nor will it ever be, nor would I touch it without someone paying me a hefty sum to do it(j2me is plenty powerful for that type of apps anyways and brew doesn't really stand up to something like series60..).
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
**The cost of the SDK with interface h/w for the Sony platform is a bit out of hobbiest range.**
sorry but, wtf you mean with that, the mophun sdk or what? why wouldn't you just surf to http://developer.sonyericsson.com/
and download the j2me sdk, then have your first j2me program done in under a hour? for free, and upload the program to the phone through whatever free means you'd like?
in short: HOW CAN _FREE_ BE OUT OF HOBBIEST RANGE?
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
- I absolutely hate the BREW API. Consider Windows 2.0 286 edition SDK API. Now castrate it to fit into an embedded O/S - this is pretty much what you get. Forget all you knew about device independent programming: data structures have fixed layout you are supposed to depend upon. Start dealing with bits and bytes. Add on top the compatibility hell between different BREW releases - here you go. J2ME is also an embedded platform but it is lightyears ahead of BREW.
- For those liking the open-source model, BREW is not good news. Forget about distributing your software, as the only distribution channel is controlled by the provider and it is geared toward making money. To get in, one needs to at least certify the program on each applicable phone model/architecture and it costs.
- Now, playing the Devil's advocate. This distribution model actually does spell good news for the developers of commercial software as they significantly limit themselves from pirating and they get rid if that pesky open-source competition eating into their profit.
I am in no position to predict the future but I would like BREW to die a horrible death. I do like the J2ME both from technical point of view and for its open distribution model.