More on OpenJDK

Until today I thought that OpenJDK was a "product" that Sun would "release" in the same way that they are releasing OpenOffice, with it's own lifecycle, unaware of the commercial StarOffice.

I know that Sun's JDK aren't in that way a commercial product which they sell for money pr. license, but as a developer I think it would be cool to be able to download a binary relase of OpenJDK 1.0. Well, at least a source version with Ant scripts, called OpenJDK 1.0.

I know its a detail, because you can always download the latest OpenJDK, and build it yourself. But it's more difficult to tell people that "our software is based on OpenJDK build 200705101549 branch before-implementation-of-jsrxyz", than just "our software is based on OpenJDK 1.0, and is thus compatible with Sun JDK 7.0" or whatever.

Sun have no plan on giving OpenJDK versionnumbers like this. I proposed to them that they did so, if not only for marketing purposes, then also for doing the lifes of developers interested in OpenJDK easier. They listened, and admitted that they had actually not discussed things like this, and would propose it to the rest of their team.

The release of OpenJDK is a GPL-release. This means that the difference between JDK 6 and OpenJDK is, that the source code of OpenJDK have had all its licenses changed to GPL v2.

OpenJDK is by the way the same as the current branch of the "official" JDK 7 development version.

Gotta go - an interview awaits.

technorati tags:OpenJDK, Sun, JDK7, GPL

JavaFX announced

At yesterdays keynote at JavaOne, Rich Green announced JavaFX together with Chris Oliver and James Gosling.

At the keynote, it was actually pretty unclear what it was.. It seemed smart, it seemed glossy, it looked like something everything should look like, it looked like a new web framework, it looked like a new language, it looked like a new mobile profile for Java - perhaps even a replacement for Java ME - it looked very easy (it always does at keynotes), and it sure looked a lot like Apple's iPhone (well, only the mobile part).

That is why I didn't blog about it yesterday - I wanted to know more about what it actually is, and in the last 24 hours I've become a little more knowledgable - knowledge that I will share with you now ;-)

JavaFX is a new product, which has many similarities to Adobe Flex. In that way JavaFX can be seen as the mediator for letting the Java platform (re-) conquer the market for graphically rich and compelling user interefaces for the desktop, mobile and the web.

JavaFX runs on every deskop with Java SE (version 5.x+) unmodified, which is nice. With todays performant mobile devices such as phones and PDA's, it should run on those as well. I haven't yet seen any details on what specs such a mobile device should have, to run JavaFX without any trouble, but I haven't had the time to look into all documentation yet.

In other words; JavaFX is all about being able to quickly and easily create modern, compelling graphical clients, which are hardware agnostic, runs on any device and automatically fits the constraints of the screen, hardware features etc.

JavaFX Script

JavaFX comes with this new language, to make it easier and much faster to create those compelling user interfaces. JavaFX Script is this new language, and should not be confused with JavaScript, or Java for that matter. The language itself has been developed almost 100% by Chris Oliver. It's focus is - not surprisingly - productivity.

JavaFX Script can be found on this URL: http://openjfx.dev.java.net/

I haven't been able to get a clear answer on why Sun choose to create a new language for such. From my point of view, it should have been possible to use languages like Groovy, JRuby or even JavaScript to accommodate the productivity, in combination with a nice Java API.

But JavaFX Script is statically typed, and is indeed a tightly focused DSL, so the reasons might be;

• that Sun wanted the language to be focused on this thing only (which should make the task of marketing the language a lot easier)
• that Sun initially wanted the full control of the language, or
• that none of the other languages fit in the demands for JavaFX

I don't know enough yet to be able to see which reason is the right one. Or maybe even see the correct reasons.

Anyways - the language seems alright. Until now I've only seen 6 lines of code. For what I saw, it looked a lot like a UI configuration language, with dynamic additions, but time will tell.

I asked one of Sun's engineers about the similarities of Adobe's ActionScript and JavaFX Script, and the answer was, that the domains for these languages are the same, and the functionality, the purpose and the use of them are also pretty much the same. But JavaFX has a more Java like syntax (no wonder), and as mentioned earlier, is statically typed.

Later I attended a press conference with James Gosling. He confirmed that Flex and JavaFX is quite similar in many ways. But he stretched that the advantages of JavaFX over Flex are numerous, because you have immidiate access to all of the ordinary Java API's for security, system integration, I/O etc. In my oppinion this alone is a VERY good reason for a Java developer, to wanna have a look at JavaFX instead of Flex.

As of now JavaFX Script is an interpreted language on top of the JVM, and creates its user interfacs using Swing. Later there will be made a compiler (according to a Sun engineer I spoke to).

JavaFX Mobile

I haven't yet seen much detail on JavaFX Mobile, but the keynote included a somewhat succesful demo of JavaFX on a couple of mobile devices, and it looked very nice! In general the user experience resembled that of the Apple iPhone. It seemed a bit slower though, but it isn't finished yet, so I guess the performance will be improved quickly the next ½-1 year. We saw also, that the same JavaFX application automatically changed to the constraints of the screens of the devices used in the demo.

Furthermore Yahoo! demonstrated an application called Yahoo! Go, if I remember correctly, which used JavaFX. It actually looked very, very cool and responsive.

Whattabout tools?

As of today, there is plugins for both Netbeans 5.5, Netbeans 6.0 and Eclipse 3.2. So it should be somewhat easy to get started.

Can I see a demo?

Yes you can. If you've enabled Java Web Start, you can click on the following links. Note that Chris Oliver did the JavaFX version of the Tesla web site, in less than 3 days! Try and do that in standard Swing - ouch.. Well, I'm not a Swing expert, but it seems somewhat quirky to me ;)

The demos can be found here: http://openjfx.dev.java.net/#demos

When eventually I find the time to fiddle with JavaFX, I'll post a first-time review.

technorati tags:JavaFX, Mobile, Adobe Flex, Flex, Chris Oliver, James Gosling, Open Source, Swing, JavaFX Script

OpenJDK is out!

As I briefly mentioned yesterday, OpenJDK has now been finished. It's assumably the fastest JDK ever, and it's been a wild and crazy journey. It took exactly a year, because last years JavaOne was where Sun announced that they would Open Source Java.

It should be, considering the huge amount of lines that needs to be checked for licencing, before Sun could apply the GPL v2 license to it all. Assumably it costed "hundreds of millions of US dollars".

Actually a few libraries couldn't be GPL'ed, and is therefore still only binary. But virtually anything is now truly Open Source.

Did you know, that Sun is the worlds biggest Open Source company? That makes JavaOne the worlds biggest Open Source developers conference, doesn't it?

An important note from Sun, is that they will do anything possible to make sure that anything will stay compatible. In line of this, they've also made the TCK freely available, to make it possible for ISV's to

Well, enough said, go fetch it and build it for yourself. You can find it all by clicking right here:

When asked what Sun wants to make money of, Jonathan Schwartz's quick answer is that what they invested in 3-5 years ago, is what they make money of now.

Sun seems to have a nice vision on making the world a better place, by cutting the cost of software, infrastructure and other enablers of IT, because they want Java to be "Write once, run anyone", instead of only "run anywhere -> everywhere". Together with the UN they sponsor the Youth Summit, which enables youngsters from around the world (about 192 countries as I remember) to collaborate, for better mutual understanding. They also want to cut the cost of mobile devices/phones, so that the underdeveloped countries can use them for navigating the internet. There is presumably 10-fold more users joining the internet daily using mobile devices, compared to ordinary PC's. PC's are simply to expensive.

With peer-to-peer networking, mobile solar powercells and mobile phones, we (=the "western world") just might succed in bringing "enlightenment" to the "underdeveloped" parts of the world (actually I don't really like using that phrase, but I do in lack of better terms).

As many companies want as few primary partners as possible, many companies choosing Suns (Open) Solaris or (Open) SPARC tends to choose from Suns other services as well.. This is what Sun makes money of, and they seem to be doing it quite well..

..And when asked directly, Jonathan states that they are NOT going to produce mobile devices/processors, but will support those who does (which is in line with what they've been doing the last couple of years).

But they might someday use OpenSPARC and OpenSolaris for mobile devices - in collaboration with companies producing these things.

technorati tags:OpenJDK, Open Source, Java, GPL, TCK

Want an invitation to Joost?

If you wanna try out Joost - the new online and interactive TV experience from the guys behind Skype and Kazaa - then let me know by commenting on this post, and I just might let you in. I'll serve requests on an first in first served basis.

technorati tags:Joost, invitation

Practical experience with Nokia Maps

Yesterday I walked around the Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. I started in the west end at Ocean Beach, and wanted to walk through the park to find the Japanese Tea House.

I thought it would be easy, and that there would be a lot of signs showing where to go for this and that. But there wasn't.

The solution (probably not very surprising) was Nokia Maps on my notorious N95.

Not only did it help me find my way through the Golden Gate Park, it also gave me the exact location of the Japanese Tea House, as well as their museum of modern art, botanical garden and more.

And yes, it worked like a charm, without buying either navigation nor local city guides.

Nice! :-)

technorati tags:San Francisco, Golden Gate Park, Japanese Tea House, Nokia N95, N95, Nokia Maps

General note on language..

Hmm.. I'm starting to have more visitors from outside of Denmark, than inside. And actually from all over the world!

Thank you guys, for showing interest. I'll honor it by shifting the preferred language on my blog to english. Sorry to you all danish readers, and welcome global readers! :)

If you danes still want a danish blog, I'll create a sub-blog in danish. Please let me know if I should do so, by commenting on this entry!

Thanks.

The next couple of days I will be focusing on Java related content, because of me attending JavaOne in San Francisco ;)

More news soon!

technorati tags:blog language, danish, javaone

JavaOne SF 2007 has begun!

Hey, now JavaOne has begun.

The number of interesting announcements seem to fall over each others legs - there are lots of them, and it looks cool!

What about:

• OpenJDK 1.0 finally out there
• JavaFX Script/Mobile being announced (what's that? I'll keep you posted)
• Global reach for all 6 million people in the world using mobile phones
• Free education to everyone jointly developed together with the UN
• RealTime Java (JSR-1 !!!) finally done!
  
• Etc. etc..

I'll be posting more info later!

technorati tags:JavaOne, JavaOne 2007, announcement, javafx, openjdk, curriki

Ny firmware til N95

Så kom der endelig ny firmware til N95'eren.

Det betyder at man nu kan gå fra version 10.0.018 til 11.0.026.

Gør som følger:

1. Tjek at din telefon ikke allerede har 11.0.026 (hvis nu din telefon kommer fra en nyere sending end min). Det gør du ved at trykke *#0000# i standby-mode (dvs. ligesom hvis du ringer til et nummer manuelt). Hvis du har en version ældre end 11.0.026, fortsæt. Ellers stop her - du er allerede opdateret ;)
   
2. Tilslut din mobil med USB-kablet i PC Suite-mode
   
3. Måske kommer der en besked om at der er ny software (nede fra System Tray'en i Windows) - hvis der gør, tryk på denne, og din browser åbner på opdaterings-sitet. Hvis ikke, så åbn sitet manuelt på linket: http://europe.nokia.com/softwareupdate
4. Bemærk at N95 stadig ikke står på listen. Vælg N80 i stedet (det virker - har netop gjort det. Det er ikke firmwaren, men Nokia Software Updater der hentes i denne ombæring).
5. Når Nokia Software Updater er hentet og installeret, start den.
6. Tilslut strøm til telefonen, og tag backup af telefonens data på hukommelseskort, hvis du mener det er nødvendigt. TAG BACKUP AF TELEFONEN, ALT I TELEFONENS HUKOMMELSE BLIVER SLETTET!!
   
7. Tryk på knappen "Start" i Nokia Software Updater
8. Tjek de ting der står på næste skærmbillede, og fortsæt vha. "Next"-knappen.
9. Nu bliver din telefon detekteret. Efterfølgende skulle det gerne se nogenlunde således ud:
   
   
10. Acceptér betingelserne, og tryk på "Update". Vent. Hold vejret. Hold fingrene fra tastaturet. Og telefonen. Det tager omtrent 5 minutters tid. Sådan en firmware fylder 113,5 MB!
11. Dernæst bliver softwaren opdateret - det er sikkert de installerede applikationer.. Det tager også nogle minutter. Lad være med at skrive eller bruge din computer til noget, for når Nokia Software Updater vil dig noget, får dens vindue fokus. Hvis du eksempelvis skriver, og trykker på mellemrum eller return/enter-tasten, kan du få sagt OK til noget du måske ikke ville have gjort hvis du havde nået at se hvad der stod. Det skete for mig, heldigvis efter den var helt færdig med opdateringen! :-|
    
12. Det var så det..

Efter genstart virker det som om N95'eren er lidt hurtigere, men Nokia har endnu ikke frigivet en changelog. Jeg poster den når jeg ser den.

technorati tags:nokia, n95, firmware, update, opdatering

PodCasting til N95

Det er vist ingen decideret nyhed (ikke sådan en WOW-nyhed i hvert fald).

Men der findes en officiel applikation til at håndtere podcasts på N95'eren. Det er guld værd, hvis man eksempelvis gerne vil høre et radioprogram i toget på vej til arbejde om morgenen, se et TV-show på vej et-eller-andet sted hen i flyet, og så fremdeles. Det fungerer ligesom et RSS-feed, blot med lyd og billede/video i stedet for kun tekst. Jeg er ikke den rette til at fortælle hvad et podcast er, da det først er nu jeg begynder at bruge det.

Jeg har nemlig nu downloadet Nokia Podcasting til N95'eren, og givet det en hurtig tur i test-møllen. Det er ikke nogen imponerende udseende applikation, men egentlig er det eneste der er behov for også følgende:

1. At kunne se listen over podcast man abonnerer på, og se opdateret indhold i disse,
   
2. at kunne finde nye podcasts i et directory,
3. at kunne søge efter podcasts, og
4. at kunne afspille de podcasts man har hentet

Og det er lige nøjagtigt hvad Nokia Podcasting er i stand til. Og det virker. Og det er dejligt. Specielt fordi N95'eren har WLAN!

De downloadede podcasts (MP3, MP4 osv.) afspilles naturligvis i N95'erens almindelige medieafspiller.

Uha det er godt.. Jeg tror snart jeg vil opfordre folk til at komme med forslag til ting en N95'er burde kunne, men ikke kan. Jeg har efterhånden svært ved at finde på noget. Det skulle da lige være at agere grafisk remote control til Apple FrontRow/iTunes via Bluetooth/WLAN, men mon ikke også der er nogen der har lavet det? Jeg vender tilbage hvis jeg finder det.

technorati tags:nokia, n95, podcasting, itunes, frontrow

N95/SportsTracker og GeoCaching

Ja, nogle af dem jeg arbejder sammen med på et af de mange projekter jeg deltager i gennem mit job, har gennem noget tid talt om GeoCaching. Selvom jeg synes det lød sjovt, prøvede jeg at ignorere dem på grund af generel travlhed.

Men efter jeg har fået min N95 er jeg åbenbart mere lydhør, for under frokostsnakken i dag - min første snak om GeoCaching efter køb af N95'eren - går det pludselig op for mig, at gadgetdimsen er genial og helt oplagt til denne sportsgren.

Til dem der ikke ved hvad GeoCaching er, går det ud på at man får nogle koordinater (længde/breddegrader), hvor der ligger en "cache". En cache er så vidt jeg har forstået typisk en beholder af varierende størrelse. Helt fra nærmest fingerbøllignende genstande til større kasser. Disse indeholder som minimum en liste, og når man finder en cache, skriver man sit GeoCache-brugernavn på listen, tager måske et par billeder, og smutter igen.

Andre caches indeholder ting, man kan bytte med ting man selv har med. Eksempelvis kan en cache indeholde bamser, som man kan tage en af, hvis man tilgengæld lægger en af sine egne medbragte bamser ned i kassen samtidig. Dette kræver naturligvis at man ved cache'en indeholder bamser, men det kan man læse om på forhånd.

Andre caches indeholder en form for mønter eller lignende med et nummer på. Dem kan man tage med hjem, og indtaste det nummer der står på dem. Så kan man se hvor mønten har været tidligere. Det kan være i Danmark, eller endda andre steder i verden. Måske kan man se hvor det er meningen den skal hen. Nogle af disse "tokens" har nemlig et formål - eksempelvis at være mindst én gang i hver af Danmarks kommuner. Eller én gang i hver verdensdel. Ja, GeoCaching er et globalt fænomen ;)

Som GeoCache'er får man point for hver cache man har fundet - man registrerer også den fundne cache når man kommer hjem til computeren (eller on-spot med sin N95'er ;)), hvor man også kan uploade beskrivelser/fotos (igen, hvorfor tage hjem for at gøre det?). Man kan også få point for at være den første der finder en ny cache (First Finder eller noget i den stil). Det er der nogle der går MEGET op i.. det er faktisk ret ekstremt.

Alle medlemmer - og det er i øvrigt gratis at blive medlem - kan lægge sine egne caches ud. Der er vist nogle regler for hvor tæt de må ligge, men det er vist også det primære.

Ja, du har gættet rigtigt. Jeg har tilmeldt mig - langt om længe ved jeg der er nogen der vil sige. I morgen er det min plan, at jeg skal finde min første cache. Jeg har nemlig en ½ fridag sammen med min søn, da hans institution holder 1.maj-fri. Jeg har tænkt mig at bruge Nokia SportsTracker, naturligvis på N95'eren. Den har en rigtig god og brugervenlig opbygning, og viser (blandt en masse andet) bredde og længdegrader. Farer man vild undervejs, kan man jo altid kombinere med Map-applikationen, så man kan få N95'eren til at hjælpe en på vej hjem igen. N95'eren tillader faktisk at mere end ét program af gangen bruger GPS-enheden samtidig. Det kan efter sigende ikke lade sig gøre fra en Pocket PC. På den måde kan man både logge sin rute vha. SportsTracker (med en masse statistik samt eksport af rute til Google Earth), samt bruge navigation/kort, og hvilke andre applikationer man ellers måtte ønske.

Jeg ser lidt GeoCaching som en sjov måde at blive stimuleret på mange planer; hang til gadgets/internet-baserede services, at få rørt sig, at være sammen med familien eller andre nørder. Faktisk er der mange af dem jeg taler med, der bruger det som en slags udflugtsmulighed med kone og børn, hvor gåturen om søndagen pludselig har et formål og bliver til en leg, i stedet for blot en gåtur fra A til B og tilbage igen.

SportsTracker er i øvrigt netop kommet i en ny version 1.42, der inkluderer GPS Filtering. Dette fikser en bug der var i den tidligere version, der gjorde at ruten nogle gange sprang meget pludselig, specielt når man var ved siden af høje bygninger. Det kunne også give pludselige kraftig stigninger i både højden over havet, samt (naturligvis deraf også) hastigheden.

Det er sandt, N95 er rent faktisk "what computers have become". Jeg ønsker mig absolut ikke tilbage til de dage, hvor det ikke var muligt at have sin computer med i lommen. For hver dag der går, synes N95'eren mere og mere uundværlig. Den er et arbejdsredskab, legetøj, kamera, en måde at få rørt sig på, og nærmest uendeligt meget andet. Phew.

Måske kigger jeg snart på Nokias Wellness Diary - stay tuned.

technorati tags:nokia, n95, sportstracker, wellness diary, geocaching