JavaOne 2007: Tuesday General Session

John Gage, Sun co-founder and Chief Researcher, kicked off JavaOne 2007 by saying that there were 81-hours until the end of JavaOne. He recommended that we all take the time and meet the fellow developers and engineers sitting to each other at each session. Engineers, as a breed, tend to be introverts but John reminded us to not be shy. He recommended that you forget that you are Swedish, forget you are British, polite, and reserved. He said, “For the next 81 hours you are Brazilian.” To this declaration, the Brazilian contingent raised the roof with their cheers. John said that in that conference hall room are all the authors of every Java book, leader of many Open Source projects, and innovators in just about every front. He recommended that we all take advantage of that fact.

The big announcements at JavaOne 2007 from Sun has been JavaFX Script, formerly known as Form Follows Function (F3). I think of JavaFX Script as a scripting Domain Specific Language for Rich Internet Applications which begs the question, why a new language? Why not accomplish the same functionality using Groovy, JRuby, or a unified and simplified API? Recently Sun also made inroads into the mobile space by purchasing the SavaJe mobile phone technology. At JavaOne, Sun announced JavaFX Mobile. JavaFX Mobile is an iPhone-inspired Java-powered software system for mobile devices. Rich Green, Vice President of the Software division at Sun, said that JavaFX Mobile is some “serious mobile eye candy.”

The general session is also meant to inspire all those present to share ideas, contribute code, and to participate. To this end, Rich Green said, “This is not a read-only life style.” Scott McNealy, former CEO of Sun, made a brief appearance on stage to announce his current project, Curriki, a elementary to high school curriculum wiki. Scott McNealy also had time to joke that Rich Green is a ‘short sleeve version of Steve Jobs.’

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