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DAILY NEWS AND INFORMATION FOR THE GLOBAL GRID COMMUNITY /
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Special Features:
McNealy KEYNOTE POINTS TO MAJOR SUCCESS FOR JAVA, THRASHES IBM
Sun Microsystems Inc opened day two of its ninth annual JavaOne software
conference with a keynote by Scott McNealy, Sun's chairman and CEO. McNealy
told the packed conference hall that the vision of Java running everywhere,
across networked technologies, and providing a unifying platform for network
computing from smartcards to hand-held devices to servers, was now a global
reality.
"What a difference a year makes," said McNealy. "There are now 4 million Java
developers and 550 Java user groups worldwide. From Michigan to Mars, the Java
community has really made its mark over the past 12 months and the next year
promises to be even more aggressive."
McNealy noted that Java-enabled content now powers more than 7 million Web
pages, is found on more than 650 million desktops and is the leading platform
for mobile applications with 93 carrier deployments around the world. McNealy
also stated that nearly 60 percent of worldwide PC desktops ship with the most
current version of Java.
Appealing to the Java developers in the audience, McNealy announced a Sun Java
Developer promotion with a pricing twist. McNealy said that Sun will list a
developer bundle on eBay with an opening bid starting at just a penny. The
bundle will include Sun Java Studio Enterprise, sample code, tutorials and an
Opteron-based workstation. Developers can bid at www.ebay.com/sun .
Java and next-generation gaming took center stage with demonstrations of
high-performance networked games. McNealy revved up the gamers in the crowd
saying, "Get ready to be impressed, you are about to see some of the coolest,
highest performing graphics in gaming, all thanks to Java."
Sun's chief gaming officer, Chris Melissinos joined McNealy on stage for a
demo of TechLand Software's highly acclaimed Chrome multiplayer PC game, which
uses Java technology extensively. The duo also demonstrated an experimental
game called Square Heads, created by game developers from the Java.Net games
community and based entirely on Java technology.
"This one is for all the non-believers out there," quipped McNealy referring
to SquareHeads speed. The winner of the Java Technology Game Developers
Competition also was announced and will be available to demo on the Java.Net
games site.
To further demonstrate that Java technology is becoming increasingly more
important in the video game industry, McNealy brought out Infinium Lab's
president and co-creator of Microsoft's Xbox, Kevin Bachus to announce that
Infinium will be shipping Java technology on its Phantom game receiver when it
launches this fall. The Phantom video game receiver is a broadband-enabled
game platform that utilizes the industry's first on-demand, subscription-based
content streaming service. The use of Java technology on the Phantom platform
means that gamers will be able to enjoy the same Java technology-based games
that they enjoyed on Windows-based PCs, as they become available on Infinium's
network.
McNealy presented the second-annual Duke's Choice Awards for most innovative
Java Technology applications. The Duke's Choice Awards, now in their second
year, recognize the best-of-the-best in the world of Java technology
development. Winners received a statue of "Duke," the Java mascot, and a
certificate of recognition from McNealy and James Gosling, creator of the Java
programming language.
"Duke continues to reward innovative uses of Java in the unlikeliest of
places," said McNealy.
This year's crop of winners included an audio-assisted navigational system
from Avis developed by Motorola; Slooh.com's online observatory, which gives
earth bound viewers tours of the galaxies; and, SK Telecom's Moneta Card, a
wireless payment system.
Sun's alliance with Microsoft, which was announced in April, also got a
mention. McNealy outlined how the two companies plan to make their products
interoperable over the coming years. "All kidding aside, I know we shocked
some of you back in April with that announcement, but we are serious about
working with Microsoft. The better our products work together, the better it
is for all of you."
McNealy, however was not so gracious in his comments toward IBM. He challenged
the company to start doing its own IP. According to McNealy, Sun is the No. 1
contributor to the open source community and IBM, he said, wants an open
source Java implementation.
"Stop writing open letters to the No. 1 one donator of open technology in the
world," McNealy said. "Spare me."
McNealy also stressed the importance of the Java community to Sun and promised
to help make sure the community continues to grow and thrive. McNealy issued
an open invite to Red Hat and Microsoft to join the JCP, saying that greater
things would be made possible for the community with these two companies
involved.
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