I've never bought into the "Sun Microsystems is toast" thesis that you often hear tossed around at industry get-togethers. Even in a deepening recession, this is a company with ample resources and a wealth of talented developers. But with some of the hottest development action now taking place on mobile phone platforms, how relevant is Java going to be to the future tech conversation?
Earlier today, my colleague Stephen Shankland wrote about the debut of JavaFX, a Sun programming language that's supposed to be easier to use than Java. In his story, he quoted Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz talking up the potential of a coherent "runtime" foundation that won't wind up splintered into different (and incompatible) versions. To wit: "We're making our binaries available" to mobile phone makers "so we can unify the Java platform implementation."
In the video posted above, Schwartz described the launch as a "breathtaking new release" of the Java platform, which is said to be the company's most profitable software product. That's the usual hard sell I've come to expect from Schwartz, who is as smart a technology salesman as you'll find in the computer industry. And it's not just empty sloganeering.
To be fair, Java has made inroads into the server and mobile phone markets. But I remember some of the more lofty claims made by Sun execs after Java debuted in 1995. And, truth be told, it was the hot product for a while--so much so that its mere mention irritated Bill Gates to the point where he blew up at a bunch of us when we pressed him about Java's potential impact on Microsoft.
But the product's $34 million in billings is still piddling when compared to Sun's hardware sales. And despite Schwartz's enthusiasm, you have to wonder whether Java's uptake among mobile carriers would have been greater had their developers also not had to choose from a multiplicity of competing platforms.
Now the competition for mobile platforms puts Java up against the likes of Symbian and others. I won't try to predict how this is going to turn out. But we heard one potentially troubling harbinger for Sun on Thursday: at a Symbian partner conference in San Francisco, AT&T's Roger Smith, who directs next-generation services at the company, did not bother mincing words. "Java has not been a success," he said.
If Schwartz is as clever as I think he is, the guy placed a call to Smith as soon as that news report reached his desk. On a Java-based phone, no doubt.
Wish I could read minds because I'd love to know what the representatives from Comcast and Verizon were thinking as they listened to lobbyists from the recording and film industries push them to snoop on their customers.
All in the pursuit of upholding the law, of course. (Naturally.)
"We need the help of ISPs. They have the technical ability to manage the flow over their pipes," Shira Perlmutter, a vice president for global legal policy at the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, said earlier Monday at a technology conference sponsored by the Progress and Freedom Foundation. "The good news is that we're beginning to see some of these solutions emerge, in particular in Europe and Asia." (IFPI is the Recording Industry Association of America's international affiliate.)
Clearly, the content industries have legitimate interests to protect, but I doubt that any of that would hold up in court. The idea strikes me as a perverse reading of the U.S. Constitution. You don't need to be a paranoid anchorite holding out in the remote hills of Montana to grasp where this policy prescription inevitably heads. But let's suspend that skepticism and momentarily assume that some ISPs would play along. Would you trust your friendly broadband provider not to monitor other prohibited items beyond pirated songs and movies? There would be no shortage of First Amendment lawyers queuing up to get a piece of this case.
Back to reality, what all this demonstrates for the umpteenth time is that the RIAA and MPAA still show themselves to be in possession of quite the tin ear. I'm not getting too exercised because broadband providers know how to count noses. While the issue got settled in court, this much is clear: we would witness the mother of all mass departures of subscribers to rival providers pledging not to monitor their customers.
The real problem facing the RIAA and MPAA is that they're still flummoxed seven years after (the original) Napster's shutdown on how to thrive in the digital world. First, they decided to unleash a legal jihad. Then it was off to use technology to disrupt high-traffic networks suspected of assisting illegal digital file swapping. Now it's pushing a Orwellian agenda where it's perfectly fine to spy because it's all serving a higher good.
Update at 8:35 a.m. PDT: More details have been added throughout.
For some reason, this hasn't drawn a ton of attention. But AT&T is edging closer to completing a 3G upgrade just in time in for the rumored release of a 3G iPhone next month.
On Wednesday, the company announced that it is only six cities away from reaching its goal of faster 3G uploads in 275 cities. AT&T has already deployed faster 3G download technology in these cities, and by the end of June, these markets will also have the faster upload speeds using a technology called HSUPA, or High Speed Uplink Packet Access. This means that AT&T wireless data subscribers will be able to get downloads of 1.4 megabits per second and uploads of between 500 kilobits per second and 800 kilobits per second.
But AT&T isn't stopping with 275 markets. By year's end, it expects to reach 350 cities with these faster upload and download speeds. And as future releases of the HSPA (High Speed Packet Access) 3G wireless technology become available, even faster speeds are expected in 2009.
AT&T has been adding new 3G handsets to its retail lineup to take advantage of the new supercharged network. The company, which is Apple's U.S. mobile carrier, had this to say:
"Equally as important as the network is the device through which a customer experiences it. AT&T's handset portfolio in company-owned stores is more than 75 percent 3G-capable--and will be even more enticing with the addition of more 3G-enabled smartphones in the summer and fall of 2008. Additionally, AT&T also has the most compelling set of 3G services, such as AT&T Video ShareSM, which allows users to share live video over wireless phones while on a voice call."
No mention of the iPhone in AT&T's press release, but that's going to be Steve Jobs' task at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference in a few weeks--or at least that's the rumor.
CNET News.com's Marguerite Reardon contributed to this report.
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