Friday, July 02, 2004

[news] JavaMania

Friday, July 2, 2004
Dateline: China
 
I'd like to report on what happened at JavaOne, but there are two problems:  First, I was in China, not at J1.  Second, there are a flood of reports in the press.  To get a recap, the best bet is to visit one of my favorite XML "news" feeds:  "TheServerSide.com: Your Enterprise Java Community".  However, I will highlight several newsworthy items:
  • Project Looking Glass -- kind of a 3D windows interface (but doesn't run under Windows (capital "W"); shown a year ago, but seems to be ready for prime time.
  • J2SE Version 5 (J2SE 5) -- yes, their numbering scheme has changed; Sun is trying to make client-side Java a ... ah, possibility. 
  • Java for your BMW -- true!!  The ultimate geek toy!!  "Hey, baby, want to ride in my Java-powered B'mer?"  I can see it now ...
  • Java-enabled phones (350 million) and Java-enabled smart cards (600 million) -- hmmm ... I don't have either (I feel like a Luddite!).
  • Project Kitty Hawk -- "includes professional services for designing an SOA" (service-oriented architecture); sounds enticing.
  • NetBeans 4.0 Integrated Development Environment (IDE ) -- Sun's "big" J2EE-related news, and ...
  • ... more mobile stuff (see http://tinyurl.com/2jexc ).
Tidbit:  There are four million Java developers, up one million over the past year.  Not sure if I believe this, but the trend sounds good.
 
In addition to TheServerSide.com, see http://tinyurl.com/2oegn , http://tinyurl.com/2v95w for further background info.
 
Bottom line:  Yes, I am touting Java.
 
Cheers,
 
David Scott Lewis
President & Principal Analyst
IT E-Strategies, Inc.
Menlo Park, CA & Qingdao, China