SWT for Mobile Linux

Jalimo is an open source Java stack for Mobile Linux; their primary targets are Maemo and OpenMoko. It is interesting to see that they are using SWT for their UI component. Some screenshots can be found here.

I wonder if there is any overlap or synergy between eRCP and Jalimo?

Eclipse DemoCamp in Ottawa

Thanks to everyone who attended the Ottawa DemoCamp  and especially the presenters.  It was great to see demos of products I had not seen before, include Flex Builder, Embarcadaro’s ER Studio and Protecode’s upcoming new product.

There are a lot more DemoCamps in the next couple of weeks, so if you get a chance try to attend one.  The demo line-up in Budapest seems to be very interesting; too bad I won’t be able to make it

Just in time for Black Friday

People often approach the Eclipse Foundation to buy Eclipse SWAG, so we are please to announce the grand opening of the Eclipse Store.

Just in time for Black Friday, you can now buy an Eclipse shirt or an Eclipse hoodie for that special someone in your life.  What could be a nicer gift for the holidays?

Enjoy!

What happened to OS Summit Asia?

As some have reported, OS Summit Asia has been postponed. What hasn’t been so clear is why? The simple reason is that not enough people had registered for the conference. Hosting a conference that no one attends, is just not a good way to host a conference.

The reason why no one registered is a bit more complex and difficult to answer. The program and speakers were top-notched. I also thought partnering with Apache was perfect for this type of conference.

So why the lack of interest? A couple of thoughts:

• We, the people helping to organize the conference, including myself, have little or no experience organizing events in China.  Therefore, we have limited experience on what motivated developers to attend conferences.
• It didn’t feel like we were taping into the developer community in China. Finding the right forums, magazines, user groups to promote the conference was a challenge.
• There was some concern about the price of the conference being too high.
• Some people have mentioned that Hong Kong might not be the best location.

We are going to try again next year. China and greater Asia are important to the Eclipse, and I am sure Apache, communities. If you have any thoughts on organizing a developer event in China, please feel free to contact me or leave a comment. Better yet, if you would like to help organize the event let me know.

A non-developer taking Fedora 8 for a Spin

Andrew Overholt from the Fedora team sent Wayne and myself a USBkey with the Fedora 8 Developer Spin. This morning I decided to take it for a spin.

First some disclaimers, 1) I am ashamed to say that I have never installed Linux on my machine. Basically, I use the standard Windows XP install I get with my laptop and hope it doesn’t fail. 2) the last time I did any professional programming was in the late 80’s when I was hacking Eiffel code. Although I do have a perfectly reasonable comp sci degree. Bottom line, I would not consider myself a Linux hacker.

Given that, I was amazed with how easy and FAST it was getting Fedora 8 up and running. Within 1 hr, I had Eclipse, PHPEclipse, e-mail, IRC and blogging all up and running. The Developer Spin includes a core set of the Eclipse projects, so you don’t need to download or install anything. It also points to the Europa update site, so it is easy to add any project that you are missing.

For those less technically inclined than me, here is the process I went through.

1. Have Matt, our IT guy, change my bios setting so that booting from a USB key is first priority.

2. Plug USB key into computer; turn on computer.

3. Wait a few seconds. This is not Windows, so you don’t have time for a morning coffee during the boot process.

4. When asked for a user name, I just hit enter. A default has been set.

5. You are now up and running in Fedora 8.

6. To start Eclipse, go to Applications -> Programming -> Eclipse
IMHO, this couldn’t be easier. I’d recommend it to anyone that has been holding off trying Linux as a developer desktop. If I can get it installed and running, I am sure others can. Download it now and give it a try.

It looks like Fedora makes it easy to build custom spins. Maybe we should try to do different Eclipse spins?

What Does Android Mean for Sun’s OpenJDK

David Berlind was the first person to point out in his article that Android may be the start of a power stuggle for Java. Stefano has also an interesting perspective on Google’s plans to get around Sun’s IP restrictions for Java ME.

Now that the Android SDK is out, it is clear that Sun and the OpenJDK are not part of Google’s plans. Android includes a new virtual machine, called Dalvik, and makes significant use of the class libraries provided by Apache Harmony; no OpenJDK and no Java ME. In fact, the Android documentation makes very careful reference to the ‘Java programming language’ but not specifically stating that Android includes Java. Despite Jonathan Schwartz lame attempts of PR spin by congratulating Google on Android, this is definitely bad news for Sun, OpenJDK and JavaME.

IMHO, this is not a good situation for the Java community but I think it was predictable. Sun has been hyping the fact they have open sourced Java but in reality they have open source Java with a lot of restrictions.

First, they have limited the ability to certify other Java implementations . The Apache Software Foundation has been trying to access the Java TCK to test their version of Java, called Harmony. Sun’s response has been to impose ‘field of use’ restrictions that would limit the ability of Harmony to run on mobile phones or any embedded devices. Sun has made the TCK available only to those Java implementations that are GPL licensed and significantly derived from OpenJDK. Basically Sun is saying ‘we will only certify implementations of Java we have influence over and we will not mess with our license revenue from the mobile industry’. Kind of like saying we are kind of open.

Second, when Sun open sourced Java they chose the GPL license but included the classpath exception for the SE version. In the Java ME version, the GPL license is used without the classpath exception. For mobile operators that want to use Java but not GPL their Java applications, they have to purchase a commercial license from Sun. Again, Sun is protecting their license revenue from the mobile phone industry. I am all for companies making software revenue but don’t try to call it open source.

[Update: please see the comments before flaming me on this last sentence.  I do not plan on changing it but I regret not being more specific in my thoughts.  ] 

Finally, Sun has made very little progress on establishing a governance board for OpenJDK. Last year they announced at JavaOne an interim council to help create the governance board for OpenJDK. However, based on the mailing list, progress is very slow. It would appear the last meeting they had was in July? I hope they are making more progress behind the scenes. Open governance is important to creating a community of trust. Right now, OpenJDK is firmly controlled as a Sun product line.

IMO, these three factors have created an environment that made it an easy decision for Google to go it alone with Android. Google wants to have an open platform that is quickly adopted with a vibrant ecosystem supporting it. In essence they want a bazaar not a cathedral for the mobile phone industry.

Sun has set the bar too high for OpenJDK. Yes, OpenJDK is a step in the right direction for creating an open source Java but so far Sun is limiting the full potential of what OpenJDK could accomplish.

btw, Happy 1st Birthday Free and Open Source Java lets hope you have a successful adolescence.

Android SDK is Out

The Android SDK is out.  The quote I enjoy most is:

The recommended way to develop an Android application is to use Eclipse with the Android plugin. This plugin provides editing, building, and debugging functionality integrated right into the IDE. However, the SDK includes tools to enable you to develop with other IDEs, including intelliJ (or if you’d rather use Eclipse without the plugin).

Amazing to see a $10 million contest.  Wow!

Remember to attend an Eclipse DemoCamp

Thanks to our organizers we have over 20 Eclipse DemoCamps in different cities around the world. The first is set to happen tomorrow, November 13 in Chicago and things really get going next week.

Next week there will be DemoCamps on November 21 in Beijing, Istanbul, Munich, Ottawa, and Poznan; on November 22 in Vancouver and November 24 in Sofia, Bulgaria.

If you are located near any of these cities, why not try to attend or better give a demo. Check the wiki for details. For those people in Ottawa, it would be great to meet you at the local event.

btw, the location of the Vancouver democamp is being finalized. Check the wiki page later this week for details.

MLP Goes to Eclipse World

Eclipse World has wrapped up for another year. Thanks to BZ Media for putting on another excellent show. I look forward to the 2008 edition.

The Eclipse MLP Tour made a stop at Eclipse World. The main focus of the tour was in the exhibit hall.

Here is MLP Java admiring Genuitec’s new Pulse product.

Schmoozing with uber-celebrity plug-in book author and tutorial instructor, Eric Clayberg from Instantiations.

And finally, taking a crash course in Latin thanks to the guys at Oracle. [It is a long story, but the printer kind of messed up the Oracle sign.]

This is the last stop of the Eclipse MLP Tour. All good things must come to an end, so I’d like to thank my two fans who provided encouragement and support. For all those other people that kept asking me why I kept posting pictures of my children’s toys, you should really read my blog more often.

Fedora 8 Developer Spin Now Available

Fedora 8 was launched earlier this week. The released introduced the concept of spins, which is a customize image of Fedora for a specific user profile. One of the spins is a developer spin, that includes among other things, a pretty complete stack of Eclipse Europa tools, including CDT, JDT, Mylyn, PHPEclipse, etc. Fedora 8 is also shipping IcedTea so all of these Eclipse projects are running on IcedTea. Pretty Cool.

I think this is great news. I hope this makes it easier for more Eclipse users to adopt Fedora as their development platform. Right now about 20% of our users seem to be using a Linux distro as their development platform and 75% plus on Windows. It would be nice to see the Linux numbers increase.

You can download the Fedora developer spin now for the Fedora site.

btw, the Fedora 8 announcement letter is great. Nick I think you would appreciate it.