Douglas MacDougall writes, in part:
> I am not a fan of Java and never use it in any other development project,
but as far as I can tell,
> none of the phones provide a native API. Why the phone makers don't use
assembly or at least a tight
> c api is completely beyond me except that Java carries marketing weight.
The whole "standards" theme
> is a joke considering the fact that near every phone has different size,
color, memory and native
> calls. ....
There does seem to be a technology mismatch here. Java on phones like these
is a little like having power steering and an automatic transmission for
your lawnmower: You don't really need it, it doesn't help you cut grass, it
really just gets in the way.
But what should they have chosen instead? A Win32 API under WinCE? Then
you depend on Microsoft's willingness to port to any CPU that you want in a
phone. And anyway, Palmtop GUIs don't scale down nicely. You'd have to ask
Microsoft for some real favors (or any other chosen palmtop OS vendor, for
that matter.)
Thrash out their own "standard"? That would've taken forever, especially in
Japan.
Java solved a political problem: "How do we get handset makers to agree on
something, soon, without requiring them to sell their souls to somebody?".
It solved that problem relatively quickly. And cheaply. So naturally, in
our "good-fast-cheap/pick-any-two" world of tradeoffs, performance had to
go. As happens often enough with open standards.
All of this is IMHO; would be delighted to hear the inside scoop.
-michael turner
leap@gol.com
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Received on Sat Dec 1 06:06:39 2001