Shawn, I have been very involved in this area at Sun now for a couple of years. Let me add come comments:
Hardware accelerated Java is actually fairly common already, at least in the Java ME space using ARM's Jazelle technology. It does have some benefits in very constrained platforms but in general advanced VMs with dynamic adaptive optimizations, compilation, and improved garbage collection perform better than H/W acceleration and at reasonable incremental cost (memory footprint, in particular). I think what we are seeing here is a general trend in the IT industry as general-purpose processors become more and more powerful they displace dedicated hardware solutions because software solutions are more flexible and lower cost. A notable exception, of course, is graphics acelleration but Java implementations typically use those when available. Specifically to Sun's Java chips (picoJava/microJava): I worked on them and the performance was quite good. But it is very hard, if not impossible, to keep up with performance improvements of general purpose processors together with the increasing amount of memory available. That technology evolution relegates Java hardware acceleration to niche status. Many companies have invested in Java H/W acceleration and fell into that trap. As for the comparison of JavaFX Mobile with the iPhone: Sure, at first it looks like a "me too" play, but I think this applies to the whole mobile industry. The iPhone was a major wake-up call to the industry and so I think you will see many "iPhone knock-offs" over the next 18 months simply because the iPhone is leading the way. However, JavaFX Mobile is distinctly different in that it will be an open system (not closed as the iPhone) and will be part of a multi-screen approach that delivers content across desktops, TV, and mobile. Only Java currently has that market reach so Sun would be ill-advised *not* to capitalize that. Cheers, -- Terrence Shawn Rutledge wrote:
I'm very disappointed that Sun has put off hardware-accelerated Java devices and Java operating systems for so long (they could have done this at least 5 years ago, if not more). The much-vaunted Java Chips never materialized in significant quantities of devices. The Java Station had such disappointing performance (and why? it could have been much better). And now just because the iPhone is coming out Sun suddenly decided to present an impression of being on the ball. Coming out now, it just looks like a lame "me too" play. Of course its performance probably still sucks... it will be a pleasant and unexpected surprise if not. _______________________________________________ OpenMoko community mailing list community@lists.openmoko.org http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community
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