Android definitely is not going to be compatible with Java. Google decided to go that way, and they had their own reasons. They choose register based Dalvik VM instead of stack-based JVM to optimize it for ARM processors dominant in the mobile space. And they decided to create their own GUI instead of Swing/AWT/JavaME GUI support.
I agree with Neil that there is hardy any resemblance with the Microsoft case. Microsoft basically tried to fork Java breaking WORA while using Java(TM). And the main goal was to settle Java developers on Windows-dependent extensions. There was a real reason for the suit. Google's making fork targeted on different platform while not using the trademark. And their goal is to make competitive mobile platform which is not going to run JavaME anyway (I don't believe that ME is suitable for modern smartphones). Android main competitors are outside of Oracle/Sun currently targeted platforms (JavaME and Android have some overlap, but when the first is just an application sandbox, Android is a full-blown application stack). So I think there is no good reason for Oracle/Sun to sue Google. So what Sun/Oracle and Google have to do with it? I think Android should be called Java. That is beneficial to both Oracle and Google. Since Android is a quite successful mobile platform, it should become something like another Java profile for smartphones. Moreover, there must be open way to do it with the community. Sometimes it is hard to drive innovation without fragmentation of the platform. And in that sense, fragmentation could be good after all. Sometimes standards are good, but sometimes they are not flexible enough in the moving hi-tech world. At some point standards become too heavy for new entrants to enter the market with innovative technology. It is too heavy and expensive to implement and too restrictive for innovation. As a result, we see forks of Java – like Android. You have a trade off to keep full compatibility and Java(TM) or make technology incompatible but more suited for the task. And what is the point in technology if it is not suited for task for the sake of compatibility? Well... it is always a trade off. In time, if nothing will change in licensing policy, we could see more forks of Java. They will look exactly like Java, will use Java language, Java open-source libraries, Java toolchain and huge developer base but will not be entitled to be called Java. Platform modularization and more versatile profiles could be the answer. Maybe Oracle/Sun should change their licensing policy. I don't think that allowing to call Java(TM) everything that runs on some kind of VM is a good answer – there always must be strict compatibility requirements. But, for example, they could establish several trademarks – Java(TM), Smells like Java(TM) etc... Give them different compatibility levels. So some simple Java implementations (which simply don't have any reasons to support full-blown Java stack) could also be called SomethingLikeJava (TM). My concern is that Oracle is not the company which adopts but the company that pushes. So they will continue to use old licensing terms and will be promoting JavaME+JavaFX instead of using the job already done for them by Google in developing new generation mobile platform. Igor On Jul 22, 11:13 pm, "[email protected]" <[email protected]> wrote: > I listened to the latest podcast and there was a lot of discussion > about how Oracle could go after Google because Android is an alternate > java implementation. What is the basis for this? > > see this about the microsoft/sun > settlement:http://www.javaworld.com/javaworld/jw-01-2001/jw-0124-iw-mssuncourt.html > > Does Google have a similar licensing agreement with Sun/Oracle? > I just can't imagine that Google would leave itself open to a giant > lawsuit as the Dick/Joe suggested. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Java Posse" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/javaposse?hl=en.
