Motorola looks to accelerate moves to open source Java

But this is a complex issue and one that is too easily clouded by the self-interest of the large vendors involved. IBM and others resent that they have contributed to Java technology over the years without reward; Sun has claimed Java is the company's software franchise, and you don't give away the franchise. After all, Java lies in a long Sun tradition of creating superior technology and then seeking to license it into being a de facto standard.

And open source is not a cure-all – especially not in a mobile world used to dealing with the tightly closed environments of the operators. The success of an open Java would depend on the structure and discipline of the governing body and on ensuring that the software did not become even more susceptible than it already is to inconsistencies and fragmentation.

In the smartphone market, this latter would sound a death knell. The operators have little interest in software technologies, provided developers can provide them with applications that fulfil three key criteria – swift time to market, simple portability over the whole portfolio of phones, efficiency of download. None of these are possible with a fragmented platform.

The current half-hearted openness satisfies nobody. Many companies take part in the Java Community Process that governs development of Java, submitting proposals and code to improve the platform, but smaller developers feel excluded from this process and the final decisions still rest with Sun.

Open source moves

Sun has made some hesitant moves towards openness, notably in 2001 when it set up Project JXTA, a set of Java-based, open source peer-to-peer protocols that allow cellphones, PDAs and other connected devices to communicate.

But although there are 16,000 developers in the JXTA community, it remains just a subset of Java and similar moves have not been made in other areas of the platform.

There are independent open source initiatives working in Java, such as Apache's Jakarta Project, which maintains open source, Java-based solutions such as the web applications framework Struts; and the JBoss Java application server.

In 2002, open source bodies such as Apache Foundation were permitted to implement a JSR without being constrained by the reference implementation and, for the first time, to submit APIs to the JCP for possible inclusion in future releases. But amendments that go through the JCP, called JSRs, do not have to have an open source implementation – often because they incorporate their sponsors'patents.

But moves towards greater openness have been hesitant at best and control rests firmly with Sun, which hovers in a halfway house between being just the sponsor of the technology and being a competitor with other makers of real Java-based products.

However, it is a myth that all developers and software houses favour open source J2ME. In the fast moving mobile world, the main fear is of anything that slows down or confuses Java and so makes it less appealing to the operators. Surveys of phone-based games creators show most would prefer Java to remain closed, feeling that Sun's control results in a higher quality, more consistent platform.

If the real issue for the vendors is control, the real issue for developers is uniformity, without which they will struggle to achieve mass market in the mobile world. The JCP has not been wholly effective at creating a single platform, and this will be more important – along with attractive pricing – in making Java dominant on all types of phones, than open source in its own right.

Copyright © 2006, Wireless Watch

Wireless Watch is published by Rethink Research, a London-based IT publishing and consulting firm. This weekly newsletter delivers in-depth analysis and market research of mobile and wireless for business. Subscription details are here.