Posted 11/23/09 at 07:01:52 AM by Paul Lilly

Oracle, in collaboration with SpringSource, has proposed a new Eclipse project called "Enterprise Modules," or "Project Gemini" if going by the platform's codename. The project is intended to provide a home for subprojects integrating existing Java enterprise technologies into mobile-based platforms, according to the proposal.

"The primary goal of the Gemini project is to provide access to standard enterprise technology implementations within a modular framework," the proposal states. "The OSGi [Open Services Gateway Initiative] Alliance has developed specifications for the application and usage of many of the enterprise technologies within OSGi. These specifications describe how vendors should implement and interoperate with existing services, and how the OSGi modularity, life cycle, and service models should be applied with respect to those technologies. Gemini will provide implementations of many of these specifications."

The Project Gemini proposal went on to claim that OSGi has been gaining in popularity among enterprise developers, and that the natural evolution is to now start creating standards for integrating popular enterprise technologies in module-based systems before serving up implementations for the general public.

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Posted 08/25/09 at 09:54:06 AM by Pulkit Chandna

Feature phones still lead smartphones by a country light-year in the global cell phone market. Their preponderance comes form their popularity in emerging markets. While a lot of the modern feature phones possess decent internet capabilities, they lack dedicated online application marketplaces.

Microsoft has launched OneApp, a cross platform app store, to deliver apps to the wide gamut of feature phones in emerging markets. Considering the limited hardware resources associated with most feature phones, the apps will be built using web development technologies like Javascript and XML, allowing them to be compatible with “70-80 percent” of all feature phones on the market.

The OneApp executable is very light (only 150 kilobytes) as it uses cloud-based resources.  It has already been rolled out to Blue Label Telecoms subscribers in South Africa. Microsoft plans to launch OneApp in other parts of the world next year, along with the official SDK.

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Posted 02/04/09 at 10:50:38 AM by Paul Lilly

Finally answering the call first made in 2003 and ultimately "deferred to a future release," Sun Microsystems is giving users a 64-bit plugin integrated into Java 6 Update 12. The new update also includes a 64-bit version of Webstart, a framework which offers end-users the ability to start Java applications over a network or the internet.

The 64-bit plugin is required for 64-bit browsers and comes included as part of the Java Runtime Environment. Users planning to run 32-bit and 64-bit browser interchangeably must install both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of the JRE.

In addition to the 64-bit plugin, Java 6 Update 12 offers official Windows 2008 support, better performance, and no less than 140 bug fixes.

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Posted 11/13/08 at 09:58:05 PM by Mark Edward Soper

It's an all-too-familiar marketing ploy: download a utility you really want, and get a toolbar for your browser free. This week, Microsoft joined the "download one, get one free" bandwagon, but with a twist: Redmond announced a deal with Sun Microsystems to offer the MSN Toolbar to US users of Internet Explorer whenever they download the Java Runtime Environment. MSN Toolbar offers one-click access to Live Search, direct access to Windows Live Hotmail and Windows Live Messenger, and stories from the MSN network. If you hate toolbars, or your browser's already running your favorite toolbar, you can opt out of the MSN toolbar.

This Microsoft plus Sun pairing represents a big "win" for Microsoft, as Google's toolbar was previously being offered as the freebie with Java. As El Reg points out, this sort of thing is nothing new for Sun and Java. Java's also been used to deliver offers of OpenOffice and the Yahoo! toobar (the latter to Mozilla Firefox browser users only).

So, how do you feel about these combo deals? Would you rather get a coupon for free french fries, or are you comfortable with getting "two for one" downloads"? Join us after the jump and sound off.

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