On Sun, Aug 15, 2010 at 20:42, RogerV <[email protected]> wrote: > Now that Oracle has unleashed against Google over use of Java language > on the Android platform, this warrants a bold move on Google's part:
Oracle's suit against Google has nothing to do with *Java* *the* *Language*. Oracle is claiming to hold valid patents covering techniques used in building high performance virtual machines and further claiming that Dalvik is infringing on those same patents. > Switch to its own Go language as the flagship programming language for > the Android platform. Dump Java. Given how Oracle is presenting their case, it's not Java-the-language that needs dumping, its execution via virtual machine that's at issue. Google could compile Java to native code ahead of time (see, for example gcj). Now, Go might be an interesting candidate here as it's intended to compile down to native code and run without a VM and an ARM code generator already exists. But, it's by no means the only choice. There are plenty of languages around that will compile to native code. Some are even type-safe, memory-safe and garbage-collected. > Apple has done this kind of maneuver routinely and successfully > brought its mass of developers along - no doubt Google could pull off > such a transition too. > > Instead of using the existing native code ARM compiler for Go, am > thinking more in terms of a new compiler that targets the Dalvik VM. No. That would *not* *solve* *the* *problem*. If Oracle can make their claims stick, Dalvik must go or be modified (crippled?). If Oracle can make their claims stick, there's no reason to believe they'd stop with Dalvik. Any modern JavaScript engine (tracemonkey, squirrelfish, V8, etc.) could very well run afoul of these very same patents. Presumably one could AOT compile JavaScript (at page load time) and sandbox the resulting machine code using the techniques Chrome uses to do the same. I don't think anyone has ever tried such a thing, however. And it doesn't necessarily end with JavaScript either. The Mono VM (C# and the .Net languages) and any number of other VMs might be in violation for all we know. Welcome to the uglyness that are software patents. With the sort of stuff that gets patented sometimes it's entirely possible to become eligible for a multi-million dollar lawsuit from a weekend of mildly inspired hacking without even realizing it. An individual's only defense is that he and his software is too unimportant to be noticed. Even assuming the patent in question was completely bogus (say, obvious prior art), how many of you could afford to finance a court fight against a major corporation to prove this? Can I have a show of hands? Brave new world, indeed. // Ben -- 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.
