Nokia Makes It Easier to Create, Distribute Apps for its Symbian Smartphones

Thanks to a series of improvements in developer tools that Nokia announced last week at Nokia World in London, developers should find it easier and more profitable to build apps for what is still the world's largest swath of smartphone users.

"We have made it much simpler, removed obstacles and made it more lucrative for people to build apps for our phones," said Purnima Kochikar, vice president, Forum Nokia. "We believe that this will convince more developers to build apps for the millions of people, in more than 190 countries, that are using the Ovi Store on their Nokia devices."

(For more on Symbian and other leading smartphones, check DevX's Special Report: Field Guide to the Mobile Development Platform Landscape.)

As handset margins shrink, Nokia recognizes that much of the next-generation of wireless growth will flow from mobile applications, which are becoming increasingly important in attracting consumers in the high-end smartphone market.

In fact, the world's largest handset maker is positioning mobile applications at the center of its efforts to make up ground lost to rivals Apple and Google. .

The importance of applications and the people who create them was underlined by Nokia's incoming CEO Stephen Elop, who spoke at the closing ceremony of Nokia World.

Elop recycled the famous mantra of his former boss Steve Ballmer "developers, developers, developers" to emphasize the vital role developers play in building the ecosystem Nokia needs to compete around the world. Elop left his job as Microsoft's business unit chief just a week before Nokia World.

Most of the vendor's tool improvements are in the Nokia Qt Software Development Kit (SDK). The biggest improvement is a 70-percent reduction in the number of lines of code needed to develop for the company's family of Symbian smartphones. Qt is pre-installed on all new Nokia smartphones and downloadable to millions of smartphone users.

Equally concerned about market erosion and market development, Nokia needs to retain and attract developers to distribute apps to millions of Nokia Symbian smartphones.

By simplifying Nokia Qt SDK and drastically cutting the lines of code for development, the vendor has created an easy-to-use tool that should help it achieve the above goal, while enabling developers to slash development time and cost.

The Qt SDK should also enable developers to future-proof their apps by easily adapting them to run on future mobile platforms such as MeeGo, while taking advantage of additional features or APIs those platforms bring.

Nokia also announced efforts to enhance monetization opportunities for developers.

Those efforts include in-app purchase, opening up a wide range of app pricing options in Ovi Store such as subscription models, micro-transactions, and try and buy. Developers will be able to build added value into their apps -- such as the sale of virtual goods, additional levels for games, or enhanced or localized in-app features.

In addition, Nokia spruced up its OVI Store user experience with a new look and feel that makes the store faster, and makes apps easier to find.

The vendor also removed the time-consuming and costly step of app signing. Now, one click is all it takes to complete Java and Symbian app signing. Finally, on the monetization front, Nokia said it will increase payments to developers after October 1.

Another area where Nokia has promised to improve the lot of developers is with in-app analytics via the vendor's acquisition of Motally. Mobile analytics technology will help developers and publishers to better track, report and monetize their content, claims the vendor.

source:http://www.devx.com/wireless/Article/45618

Nokia Makes It Easier to Create, Distribute Apps for its Symbian Smartphones

Thanks to a series of improvements in developer tools that Nokia announced last week at Nokia World in London, developers should find it easier and more profitable to build apps for what is still the world's largest swath of smartphone users.

"We have made it much simpler, removed obstacles and made it more lucrative for people to build apps for our phones," said Purnima Kochikar, vice president, Forum Nokia. "We believe that this will convince more developers to build apps for the millions of people, in more than 190 countries, that are using the Ovi Store on their Nokia devices."

(For more on Symbian and other leading smartphones, check DevX's Special Report: Field Guide to the Mobile Development Platform Landscape.)

As handset margins shrink, Nokia recognizes that much of the next-generation of wireless growth will flow from mobile applications, which are becoming increasingly important in attracting consumers in the high-end smartphone market.

In fact, the world's largest handset maker is positioning mobile applications at the center of its efforts to make up ground lost to rivals Apple and Google. .

The importance of applications and the people who create them was underlined by Nokia's incoming CEO Stephen Elop, who spoke at the closing ceremony of Nokia World.

Elop recycled the famous mantra of his former boss Steve Ballmer "developers, developers, developers" to emphasize the vital role developers play in building the ecosystem Nokia needs to compete around the world. Elop left his job as Microsoft's business unit chief just a week before Nokia World.

Most of the vendor's tool improvements are in the Nokia Qt Software Development Kit (SDK). The biggest improvement is a 70-percent reduction in the number of lines of code needed to develop for the company's family of Symbian smartphones. Qt is pre-installed on all new Nokia smartphones and downloadable to millions of smartphone users.

Equally concerned about market erosion and market development, Nokia needs to retain and attract developers to distribute apps to millions of Nokia Symbian smartphones.

By simplifying Nokia Qt SDK and drastically cutting the lines of code for development, the vendor has created an easy-to-use tool that should help it achieve the above goal, while enabling developers to slash development time and cost.

The Qt SDK should also enable developers to future-proof their apps by easily adapting them to run on future mobile platforms such as MeeGo, while taking advantage of additional features or APIs those platforms bring.

Nokia also announced efforts to enhance monetization opportunities for developers.

Those efforts include in-app purchase, opening up a wide range of app pricing options in Ovi Store such as subscription models, micro-transactions, and try and buy. Developers will be able to build added value into their apps -- such as the sale of virtual goods, additional levels for games, or enhanced or localized in-app features.

In addition, Nokia spruced up its OVI Store user experience with a new look and feel that makes the store faster, and makes apps easier to find.

The vendor also removed the time-consuming and costly step of app signing. Now, one click is all it takes to complete Java and Symbian app signing. Finally, on the monetization front, Nokia said it will increase payments to developers after October 1.

Another area where Nokia has promised to improve the lot of developers is with in-app analytics via the vendor's acquisition of Motally. Mobile analytics technology will help developers and publishers to better track, report and monetize their content, claims the vendor.

source:http://www.devx.com/wireless/Article/45618

Google executive frustrated by Java, C++ complexity

oday's commercial-grade programming languages -- C++ and Java, in particular -- are way too complex and not adequately suited for today's computing environments, Google distinguished engineer Rob Pike argued in a talk Thursday at the O'Reilly Open Source Conference.

Pike made his case against such "industrial programming languages" during his keynote at the conference in Portland, Oregon.

"I think these languages are too hard to use, too subtle, too intricate. They're far too verbose and their subtlety, intricacy and verbosity seem to be increasing over time," Pike said. "They're oversold, and used far too broadly."

Pike detailed the shortcomings of such languages as a way of describing the goals that he and other Google engineers have for a new programming language they developed, calledGo.

As an illustration of the complexity of such languages, Pike showed a few examples of C++ code. One example was of a variable declaration that stretched nearly across an entire line of the screen.

"How do we have stuff like this [get to be] the standard way of computing that is taught in schools and is used in industry?" he asked, rhetorically. This sort of programming "is very bureaucratic. Every step must be justified to the compiler," he said.

While Pike admitted that he was being somewhat facetious, he asserted that such questions still should be asked. C++ came about because of people's frustration with working with the low-level C language, and Java came about as a way to simplify C++. Over time, however, new features were added to both languages, making them more and more complex.

"Noise comes with sophistication," he said.

Pike also added that such languages were developed before the advent of multicore processing and widespread networking, so they don't easily accommodate these new environments.

Pike is not the lone Google employee expressing dissatisfaction with traditional commercial-grade languages.

At the USENIX annual conference last month, Gmail engineer Adam de Boor surprised the audience by noting that the company's Gmail service was written entirely in JavaScript, and that all of its code, around 443,000 lines worth, was written by hand.

He noted that while Java is more expressive, it is also more verbose. "At this point to me it's a matter of choice which language you use," de Boor said.

JavaScript is one of a whole batch of languages -- others include Ruby and Python -- that have been developed over the past 10 years in response to the growing complexity of C++ and Java. But while having a simpler syntax, such languages have their drawbacks as well, he argued.

These new languages tend to be slower, don't scale as well, and can harbor more errors, Pike elaborated.

The languages tend to be interpreted rather than compiled, meaning the programs written in such languages aren't compiled before running, so tend to run slower as a result. They also tend to be dynamically typed, meaning programmers don't need to specify what type of data their variables will hold.

source:http://www.networkworld.com/news/2010/072210-google-executive-frustrated-by-java.html

Google executive frustrated by Java, C++ complexity

oday's commercial-grade programming languages -- C++ and Java, in particular -- are way too complex and not adequately suited for today's computing environments, Google distinguished engineer Rob Pike argued in a talk Thursday at the O'Reilly Open Source Conference.

Pike made his case against such "industrial programming languages" during his keynote at the conference in Portland, Oregon.

"I think these languages are too hard to use, too subtle, too intricate. They're far too verbose and their subtlety, intricacy and verbosity seem to be increasing over time," Pike said. "They're oversold, and used far too broadly."

Pike detailed the shortcomings of such languages as a way of describing the goals that he and other Google engineers have for a new programming language they developed, calledGo.

As an illustration of the complexity of such languages, Pike showed a few examples of C++ code. One example was of a variable declaration that stretched nearly across an entire line of the screen.

"How do we have stuff like this [get to be] the standard way of computing that is taught in schools and is used in industry?" he asked, rhetorically. This sort of programming "is very bureaucratic. Every step must be justified to the compiler," he said.

While Pike admitted that he was being somewhat facetious, he asserted that such questions still should be asked. C++ came about because of people's frustration with working with the low-level C language, and Java came about as a way to simplify C++. Over time, however, new features were added to both languages, making them more and more complex.

"Noise comes with sophistication," he said.

Pike also added that such languages were developed before the advent of multicore processing and widespread networking, so they don't easily accommodate these new environments.

Pike is not the lone Google employee expressing dissatisfaction with traditional commercial-grade languages.

At the USENIX annual conference last month, Gmail engineer Adam de Boor surprised the audience by noting that the company's Gmail service was written entirely in JavaScript, and that all of its code, around 443,000 lines worth, was written by hand.

He noted that while Java is more expressive, it is also more verbose. "At this point to me it's a matter of choice which language you use," de Boor said.

JavaScript is one of a whole batch of languages -- others include Ruby and Python -- that have been developed over the past 10 years in response to the growing complexity of C++ and Java. But while having a simpler syntax, such languages have their drawbacks as well, he argued.

These new languages tend to be slower, don't scale as well, and can harbor more errors, Pike elaborated.

The languages tend to be interpreted rather than compiled, meaning the programs written in such languages aren't compiled before running, so tend to run slower as a result. They also tend to be dynamically typed, meaning programmers don't need to specify what type of data their variables will hold.

source:http://www.networkworld.com/news/2010/072210-google-executive-frustrated-by-java.html

Google executive frustrated by Java, C++ complexity part 1

oday's commercial-grade programming languages -- C++ and Java, in particular -- are way too complex and not adequately suited for today's computing environments, Google distinguished engineer Rob Pike argued in a talk Thursday at the O'Reilly Open Source Conference.

Pike made his case against such "industrial programming languages" during his keynote at the conference in Portland, Oregon.

"I think these languages are too hard to use, too subtle, too intricate. They're far too verbose and their subtlety, intricacy and verbosity seem to be increasing over time," Pike said. "They're oversold, and used far too broadly."

Pike detailed the shortcomings of such languages as a way of describing the goals that he and other Google engineers have for a new programming language they developed, calledGo.

As an illustration of the complexity of such languages, Pike showed a few examples of C++ code. One example was of a variable declaration that stretched nearly across an entire line of the screen.

"How do we have stuff like this [get to be] the standard way of computing that is taught in schools and is used in industry?" he asked, rhetorically. This sort of programming "is very bureaucratic. Every step must be justified to the compiler," he said.

While Pike admitted that he was being somewhat facetious, he asserted that such questions still should be asked. C++ came about because of people's frustration with working with the low-level C language, and Java came about as a way to simplify C++. Over time, however, new features were added to both languages, making them more and more complex.

"Noise comes with sophistication," he said.

Pike also added that such languages were developed before the advent of multicore processing and widespread networking, so they don't easily accommodate these new environments.

Pike is not the lone Google employee expressing dissatisfaction with traditional commercial-grade languages.

At the USENIX annual conference last month, Gmail engineer Adam de Boor surprised the audience by noting that the company's Gmail service was written entirely in JavaScript, and that all of its code, around 443,000 lines worth, was written by hand.

He noted that while Java is more expressive, it is also more verbose. "At this point to me it's a matter of choice which language you use," de Boor said.

JavaScript is one of a whole batch of languages -- others include Ruby and Python -- that have been developed over the past 10 years in response to the growing complexity of C++ and Java. But while having a simpler syntax, such languages have their drawbacks as well, he argued.

These new languages tend to be slower, don't scale as well, and can harbor more errors, Pike elaborated.

The languages tend to be interpreted rather than compiled, meaning the programs written in such languages aren't compiled before running, so tend to run slower as a result. They also tend to be dynamically typed, meaning programmers don't need to specify what type of data their variables will hold.

source:http://www.networkworld.com/news/2010/072210-google-executive-frustrated-by-java.html

Google executive frustrated by Java, C++ complexity part 1

oday's commercial-grade programming languages -- C++ and Java, in particular -- are way too complex and not adequately suited for today's computing environments, Google distinguished engineer Rob Pike argued in a talk Thursday at the O'Reilly Open Source Conference.

Pike made his case against such "industrial programming languages" during his keynote at the conference in Portland, Oregon.

"I think these languages are too hard to use, too subtle, too intricate. They're far too verbose and their subtlety, intricacy and verbosity seem to be increasing over time," Pike said. "They're oversold, and used far too broadly."

Pike detailed the shortcomings of such languages as a way of describing the goals that he and other Google engineers have for a new programming language they developed, calledGo.

As an illustration of the complexity of such languages, Pike showed a few examples of C++ code. One example was of a variable declaration that stretched nearly across an entire line of the screen.

"How do we have stuff like this [get to be] the standard way of computing that is taught in schools and is used in industry?" he asked, rhetorically. This sort of programming "is very bureaucratic. Every step must be justified to the compiler," he said.

While Pike admitted that he was being somewhat facetious, he asserted that such questions still should be asked. C++ came about because of people's frustration with working with the low-level C language, and Java came about as a way to simplify C++. Over time, however, new features were added to both languages, making them more and more complex.

"Noise comes with sophistication," he said.

Pike also added that such languages were developed before the advent of multicore processing and widespread networking, so they don't easily accommodate these new environments.

Pike is not the lone Google employee expressing dissatisfaction with traditional commercial-grade languages.

At the USENIX annual conference last month, Gmail engineer Adam de Boor surprised the audience by noting that the company's Gmail service was written entirely in JavaScript, and that all of its code, around 443,000 lines worth, was written by hand.

He noted that while Java is more expressive, it is also more verbose. "At this point to me it's a matter of choice which language you use," de Boor said.

JavaScript is one of a whole batch of languages -- others include Ruby and Python -- that have been developed over the past 10 years in response to the growing complexity of C++ and Java. But while having a simpler syntax, such languages have their drawbacks as well, he argued.

These new languages tend to be slower, don't scale as well, and can harbor more errors, Pike elaborated.

The languages tend to be interpreted rather than compiled, meaning the programs written in such languages aren't compiled before running, so tend to run slower as a result. They also tend to be dynamically typed, meaning programmers don't need to specify what type of data their variables will hold.

source:http://www.networkworld.com/news/2010/072210-google-executive-frustrated-by-java.html

Will Oracle Help Java Regain its Status?

What lies ahead for Java under Oracle’s control? Will the software giant help Java regain its lost status as the development darling of the cool kids? Or will it seek to monetize Java by incorporating the language, which debuted in 1995, into a revenue stream of Oracle middleware?

Oracle, currently tweaking its plans for the future of Java, has been making some noise that it wants to reinvigorate the once-hot language and keep it open.

Some of Oracle’s plans are detailed in a webcast featuring Jeet Kaul, Oracle VP of Java Development.

Kaul notes that the foundation of Java’s greatness lies in the nine million developers who use Java -- and that Oracle is committed to keeping those people happy.

“HotSpot and JRockit will continue to be the strategic JVMs,” he says, adding that Oracle will roll out Java 7 SE in 2010.

New features of Java 7 will include increased developer productivity, modularization, and support for more than 200 languages, says Kaul.

Java 7 will, of course, be bigger than its predecessor -- so the bloat factor may turn off some developers, especially the cool kids who want to create flashy websites and front-ends.

Java's legacy of complexity is certainly an issue, says Michael Cote, an analyst with RedMonk, a consulting firm specializing in open source technology.

Still Reliable After All These Years

“Starting with JBoss, then Spring, and now the componentization efforts (OSGi and the Java modularity effort) the Java world has been trying to fight ‘bloat’ for a long time,” says Cote. “People I talk with still rely on Java for much of the heavy lifting out there.”

Java’s role of heavy-lifter is not going to vanish, says Mike Rozlog, a developer with Embarcadero Technologies, a creator of application tools.

“Java has been the COBOL of the business world for the past 15 years,” says Rozlog. “That will not change.”

If anything, Java developers and the business world as a whole can expect strong support from Oracle, IDC predicts in a recent update, “Oracle Sips Its Java -- Examining Oracle’s RoadMap for Sun’s Development Tools and Middleware Products.”

The update notes that Oracle has made the strategic commitment to anchor the architecture of its next-generation packaged applications around Oracle Fusion Middleware, its Java-based application and integration platform middleware.

“The success of Java is fundamental to the success of Oracle,” says Al Hilwa, the principal author of the update and IDC’s program director of applications development software.

Hilwa believes that Oracle's new strategic initiatives in middleware and applications are more dependent on the viability of Java than was Sun’s, which primarily leveraged Java for mindshare and goodwill in the hope of selling more servers and storage.

“My impression is that Oracle values good relations with the Java community and views the broad Java ecosystem as a key asset in its acquisition of Sun,” Hilwa says.

He thinks Oracle will keep alive or at least nominally alive most of the technologies it acquired.


source:http://www.devx.com/Java/Article/44452?trk=DXRSS_JAVA

Will Oracle Help Java Regain its Status?

What lies ahead for Java under Oracle’s control? Will the software giant help Java regain its lost status as the development darling of the cool kids? Or will it seek to monetize Java by incorporating the language, which debuted in 1995, into a revenue stream of Oracle middleware?

Oracle, currently tweaking its plans for the future of Java, has been making some noise that it wants to reinvigorate the once-hot language and keep it open.

Some of Oracle’s plans are detailed in a webcast featuring Jeet Kaul, Oracle VP of Java Development.

Kaul notes that the foundation of Java’s greatness lies in the nine million developers who use Java -- and that Oracle is committed to keeping those people happy.

“HotSpot and JRockit will continue to be the strategic JVMs,” he says, adding that Oracle will roll out Java 7 SE in 2010.

New features of Java 7 will include increased developer productivity, modularization, and support for more than 200 languages, says Kaul.

Java 7 will, of course, be bigger than its predecessor -- so the bloat factor may turn off some developers, especially the cool kids who want to create flashy websites and front-ends.

Java's legacy of complexity is certainly an issue, says Michael Cote, an analyst with RedMonk, a consulting firm specializing in open source technology.

Still Reliable After All These Years

“Starting with JBoss, then Spring, and now the componentization efforts (OSGi and the Java modularity effort) the Java world has been trying to fight ‘bloat’ for a long time,” says Cote. “People I talk with still rely on Java for much of the heavy lifting out there.”

Java’s role of heavy-lifter is not going to vanish, says Mike Rozlog, a developer with Embarcadero Technologies, a creator of application tools.

“Java has been the COBOL of the business world for the past 15 years,” says Rozlog. “That will not change.”

If anything, Java developers and the business world as a whole can expect strong support from Oracle, IDC predicts in a recent update, “Oracle Sips Its Java -- Examining Oracle’s RoadMap for Sun’s Development Tools and Middleware Products.”

The update notes that Oracle has made the strategic commitment to anchor the architecture of its next-generation packaged applications around Oracle Fusion Middleware, its Java-based application and integration platform middleware.

“The success of Java is fundamental to the success of Oracle,” says Al Hilwa, the principal author of the update and IDC’s program director of applications development software.

Hilwa believes that Oracle's new strategic initiatives in middleware and applications are more dependent on the viability of Java than was Sun’s, which primarily leveraged Java for mindshare and goodwill in the hope of selling more servers and storage.

“My impression is that Oracle values good relations with the Java community and views the broad Java ecosystem as a key asset in its acquisition of Sun,” Hilwa says.

He thinks Oracle will keep alive or at least nominally alive most of the technologies it acquired.


source:http://www.devx.com/Java/Article/44452?trk=DXRSS_JAVA

As Oracle Sues Google Over Java, Developers Move to Other Languages

Oracle is suing Google over its use of Java in its Android smartphone operating system. Some developers now believe the risk that Oracle is going to either sue or raise licensing fees for all Java users, not just Google, is high enough that they need to investigate and eventually move to other languages.

Dylan Hardison, a software developer for a small firm in Tampa, Florida, says his employer, once a Perl-oriented shop that also did a large amount of Java development, is now "...seeing a lot more C# work than Java work."

He and his coworkers have also noticed an uptick in client demand for C# -- and also the Novell-sponsored open source C# clone Mono, which Hardison says is now "...widely used; on the Wii for instance."

Chris Nandor, one of the programmers behind the code that runs geek discussion Web site Slashdot.org, sees Java as easy to replace if Oracle saddles it with high fees or onerous licensing terms. He sees Java being dumped in favor of "C++, C#, ObjC, Python or Ruby, depending on the context."

Hardison says a number of his employer's customers are starting to want their Web applications written in .NET, too, including many whose previous iterations were coded in Java.

Oracle isn't the only reason to leave Java behind

A Tampa-area developer we can't quote by name without risking his job says, "Java won't die; it will limp along. But Java has hit the complexity wall."

He believes that even without Oracle's efforts to muddy Java's future, it is on its way out because "humans now consider Java too complex to learn in its entirety. We have moved onto the next evolution, with other, simpler, more flexible languages that layer on top of it. Case in point: JRuby.

Our anonymous source says, in general, that Oracle is "destroying Java and Sun to make a quick buck. They are ostracizing themselves in the Open Source community by doing so," and, "as enterprises move into the cloud, Oracle and their solutions will lose favor to simplified home-brew agile tdd/bdd developed codebases."

source:http://www.devx.com/Java/Article/45527?trk=DXRSS_JAVA

As Oracle Sues Google Over Java, Developers Move to Other Languages

Oracle is suing Google over its use of Java in its Android smartphone operating system. Some developers now believe the risk that Oracle is going to either sue or raise licensing fees for all Java users, not just Google, is high enough that they need to investigate and eventually move to other languages.

Dylan Hardison, a software developer for a small firm in Tampa, Florida, says his employer, once a Perl-oriented shop that also did a large amount of Java development, is now "...seeing a lot more C# work than Java work."

He and his coworkers have also noticed an uptick in client demand for C# -- and also the Novell-sponsored open source C# clone Mono, which Hardison says is now "...widely used; on the Wii for instance."

Chris Nandor, one of the programmers behind the code that runs geek discussion Web site Slashdot.org, sees Java as easy to replace if Oracle saddles it with high fees or onerous licensing terms. He sees Java being dumped in favor of "C++, C#, ObjC, Python or Ruby, depending on the context."

Hardison says a number of his employer's customers are starting to want their Web applications written in .NET, too, including many whose previous iterations were coded in Java.

Oracle isn't the only reason to leave Java behind

A Tampa-area developer we can't quote by name without risking his job says, "Java won't die; it will limp along. But Java has hit the complexity wall."

He believes that even without Oracle's efforts to muddy Java's future, it is on its way out because "humans now consider Java too complex to learn in its entirety. We have moved onto the next evolution, with other, simpler, more flexible languages that layer on top of it. Case in point: JRuby.

Our anonymous source says, in general, that Oracle is "destroying Java and Sun to make a quick buck. They are ostracizing themselves in the Open Source community by doing so," and, "as enterprises move into the cloud, Oracle and their solutions will lose favor to simplified home-brew agile tdd/bdd developed codebases."

source:http://www.devx.com/Java/Article/45527?trk=DXRSS_JAVA

Innovation has always driven Sun's success in the marketplace. So what drives Sun's innovation?

Sun Microsystems Laboratories (Sun Labs) is an engine of invention and exploration that has helped keep Sun at the forefront of network computing for more than 15 years. A cornerstone of Sun's multibillion-dollar R&D investment, Sun Labs has developed many of the technologies that have shaped Sun's product portfolio and reputation for thought leadership — including Java technology, UltraSPARC processors, Sun Cluster high-availability software, elliptic curve cryptography (ECC), Netra carrier-grade servers — the list goes on.

But Sun Labs focuses on exploring the future of computing, not looking back at past accomplishments. To wrap up the old year and ring in the next, Sun Inner Circle decided to peer into the future of computing by examining some of the current projects under way at Sun Labs. Sun Inner Circle invited Dr. Robert Sproull, who took over as head of the labs in March 2006, to give us some insight into what's happening at Sun Labs today — and a sneak preview of the new ideas and directions the labs may explore in 2007.

source:http://www.developers.net/sunicshowcase/view/2133

Innovation has always driven Sun's success in the marketplace. So what drives Sun's innovation?

Sun Microsystems Laboratories (Sun Labs) is an engine of invention and exploration that has helped keep Sun at the forefront of network computing for more than 15 years. A cornerstone of Sun's multibillion-dollar R&D investment, Sun Labs has developed many of the technologies that have shaped Sun's product portfolio and reputation for thought leadership — including Java technology, UltraSPARC processors, Sun Cluster high-availability software, elliptic curve cryptography (ECC), Netra carrier-grade servers — the list goes on.

But Sun Labs focuses on exploring the future of computing, not looking back at past accomplishments. To wrap up the old year and ring in the next, Sun Inner Circle decided to peer into the future of computing by examining some of the current projects under way at Sun Labs. Sun Inner Circle invited Dr. Robert Sproull, who took over as head of the labs in March 2006, to give us some insight into what's happening at Sun Labs today — and a sneak preview of the new ideas and directions the labs may explore in 2007.

source:http://www.developers.net/sunicshowcase/view/2133