How Java saved Africa

The baritone of Sun Microsystems' chief researcher John Gage makes anything sound possible. But did Nokia's decision a decade ago to adopt Java technology just force Pres. Bush change his mind about the amount of U.S. aid to Africa?

Here's Gage's tale, presented at Sun's JavaOne developer conference Wednesday: Social cause fighter and rocker Bono, of the band U2, has so far coaxed thousands of concertgoers to cell phone text message the White House about increasing aid to Africa. Sun's Java programming language gets right in the middle of the charitable work. And voila, the U.S. doubles the dollar amount. Without No. 1 cell phone maker Nokia's commitment to putting Java in all its phones, there would likely be few participants.