In San Francisco last week, Sun Microsystems, inventor of the Java programming language, celebrated the 10th anniversary of its JavaOne conference for software developers. More than 15,000 people attended the event, and more than 1.1 million subscribe to Sun Java Enterprise System for creating business applications in Java. Besides Sun, other Mountain View participants included Agitar, Azul Systems, Google and ILOG.
Since its inception 15 years ago, Java has stimulated the economy, creating thousands of companies and jobs. It has transformed software development globally, enabling software for computers, mobile phones and machinery to be created amazingly quickly and reliably.
Sun, unfortunately, has been unable to capitalize on its invention.
Java is a foundation for some of the world’s most productive software creation processes and tools. Java is pervasive and may even be hiding in your cell phone, but chances are you will never see it.
Students who want to learn Java, mature programmers who want to brush up their skills and software development professionals can all get started with tools from Sun’s developer Web site at http://developers.sun.com — or through the Open Source Eclipse community at www.eclipse.org.
Today, the expertise of other Mountain View companies keeps Java at the forefront. Agitar, for example, creates software for testing Java software modules. It helps software developers catch bugs before they have a chance to cause widespread havoc. Early elimination of errors tends to increase system reliability and reduce production costs.
Azul Systems has network computers that are optimized to run high-volume transaction systems written in Java. At JavaOne, company reps explained how their multicore processors use innovative garbage collection, parallel processing and context switching to make Java code run up to 45 times faster than on a regular computer server.
Google is at the forefront in using the popular Ajax — Asynchronous JavaScript and XML — software development tool to integrate Java with Web data. Google makes really dynamic and robust web applications by reusing Java components. Note that JavaScript, a language used mainly by browsers, is not the same as Java, a language suitable for both browsers and Web servers. (Check out Google’s Java tools on http://code.google.com/webtoolkit if you want to try reusing Java components in your Web application.)
ILOG is the company you whiz past on the freeway as you go from 101 to 85. Its software helps people make the best choices using optimization in applications ranging from transportation through telecommunications to supply chain processing. Java is used to display mathematical results with attractive, informative graphics. ILOG’s JTGO (JViews Telecom Graphic Objects) enables telecommunications engineers to see dynamic maps of their network outages, bottlenecks and performance over the Internet.
Cool applications of Java include the server software for Nike’s www.nikeid.com Web site. It enables Nike employees to rapidly add new shoe models to the site. It also allows you to design sports shoes decorated with your name in the colors of your choice.
Sun, which has seen financial trouble, recently shook up its management, and new CEO Jonathan Schwartz claims on his blog that Sun does indeed know how to monetize Java. Clearly some revenues come from Java — but are they high enough, given the vast Java economy on display at JavaOne?
Transforming this company, which got its start by making workstations more open and more inexpensive, will be a huge challenge for Schwartz. Leveraging Sun with an economic engine jolted by Java will require aggressive acquisitions, fast innovation and splashy marketing. Meanwhile, we look forward to another decade of JavaOne success.
Angela Hey lives on the Peninsula and helps ventures launch innovative technologies. Send comments to amhey@techviser.com.
