With today's release of the PersonalJava 1.0 software, Sun Microsystems will try to get its Java platform more directly onto operating systems and into the hands of consumers and their electronic communication devices - harkening back to Sun's original intentions for the language.
The PersonalJava software is a subset of the full-blown Java platform, and will be licensed to other developers which can embed it in Web phones, mobile handheld computers, set-top boxes, PDAs, and point-of-sale retail applications, said Alice Farrelly, senior marketing manager for PersonalJava. The complete software kit includes a Java Virtual Machine and EmbeddedJava, a separate product that contains programming interfaces to tie applications into the PersonalJava platform. Sun is heavily promoting the use of Java as an embedded technology, and says that its target products will be low-price-point, high-volume devices.
"An embedded device typically will have limited, constrained memory, a dedicated purpose, and a high-quality software environment," said Farrelly. "Desktops are general purpose, but phones are phones."
The first products to use the technology are expected to be Web phones, which will have a touch screen and small keyboard for Web browsing, email, and other services via a phone line. Alcatel, Northern Telecom, and Samsung have already committed to Web phones using the PersonalJava platform.
Farrelly said that Web phones and other devices will be available within six to eight months. Thus far, Lucent, Geoworks, WindRiver Systems, and QNX Software Systems, are among the companies that have developed real-time operating systems required for PersonalJava to run on. The other piece of the PersonalJava puzzle, of course, is the connection that these new devices will need to make with larger networks.
Farrelly said others are currently developing backend processing and inventory systems using Java.
