Sun clarifies client-side Java strategy
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'Filthy rich internet applications' Sun has given the world a (slightly) better idea of what's on the way from client-side Java.â¦
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Zend has a new download for those out there interested in using PHP on a Sun Java System Web Server - the PHP Enabler for the Java System Web Server.
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(InfoWorld) - SunÂ is putting millions of Java users at risk by staggering the release of security patches for the software, security vendor eEye Digital Security said Monday. To illustrate the problem, eEye points to a recent flaw in the Java Runtime Environment, used to run programs that are written in Java. In January, eEye discovered a serious bug in the Java Network Launching Protocol, which is used to run Java programs over the Web. Hackers could exploit this flaw by setting up a malicious Web site that could install unauthorized software on any Java-enabled PC that visited it, according to eEye. The flaw was patched in late June, but Sun has yet to push out the fix to its millions of Java users worldwide. Instead, Sun has made a developer release available on its Java.sun.com download page and is holding off on a more widespread release of the fix. The reason? So that developers can make sure that the update itself is bug-free. "There's an additional round of testing that happens before we blast it out to consumers," said Sun Spokeswoman Jacki Decoster. The problem with this approach is that a staggered release schedule gives criminals a window of opportunity to reverse engineer the Java bug and then create attack code that can be targeted at the millions of unpatched users, said Marc Maiffret, CTO with eEye. "Sun has such a horrible update process that they released patches for this flaw a couple weeks ago, and more patches for different versions [after that]," he said. "If people were reverse-engineering the patch a few weeks ago, they have a head start on the good guys." Microsoft releases security patches for all versions of its products simultaneously, but Sun is not the only company to stagger updates. Oracle, for example, habitually releases database patches for some of the less-popular operating system platforms weeks after its initial security updates. Leaving Java users unprotected like this not a good idea, said Cesar Cerrudo, CEO of Argeniss Information Security. But with Sun expecting to push out a fix for the problem later this week, hackers are not getting a lot of time to develop attack code, he said.
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(InfoWorld) - You've heard of LAMP, the popular open-source infrastructure stack featuring the Linux operating system, the Apache Web server, MySQL's database, and the Perl, Python and PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor) scripting languages. Well, Sun plans to spotlight a variation on that mixture, replacing Linux with its own Solaris Unix OS as part of its Solaris + AMP, or SAMP, stack for building Web applications. Featured in Sun's rollout on Tuesday are versions of the open-source AMP components optimized for the Solaris 10 OS plus Sun developer tools. The Solaris + AMP unveiling is part of a multifaceted announcement of free development offerings to debut on Tuesday with Sun hoping to sell support as a way to generate revenues. While stressing that Sun was not trying to compete with LAMP itself, Dan Roberts, Sun's director of developer tools marketing, did note that Sun believes its Solaris platform presents a viable competitor to Linux. Developers can build to Apache, MySQL, and the scripting languages but deploy their applications on Solaris or the open-source variant, OpenSolaris, to get advantages such as reliability and security, he said. "We're very much competing [with] Red Hat," and Suse, Roberts said. The company is featuring the PostgreSQL object-relational database as part of the stack along with MySQL. Sun tools and other open-source technologies also are included, and step-by-step instructions on deploying the stack are offered. Analysts recognized Sun's Solaris + AMP effort as a way to entice open-source developers to the Sun camp. "Theyâre trying to make it more comfortable for those who had been working in Linux to consider coming to Solaris as an alternative," said analyst Jean Bozman of IDC. Although IDC does not rank operating systems, Sun does have tools in its Solaris arsenal, such as the DTrace tracing framework and ZFS (Zettabyte File System), that could be attractive to Linux developers, Bozman said. "It's very clear that Sun is going after the same set of developers in the open-source community," as Linux, she said. Making a stronger case for Sun, Andi Mann, senior analyst at Enterprise Management Associates, said Sun with Solaris + AMP had taken the best parts of the LAMP stack, swapped out Linux with Solaris, and added other open-source technologies. "In terms of standing a chance against LAMP, absolutely, I think it's a very strong offering," Mann said. But Sun faces an obstacle in that Solaris still is considered by some to be a proprietary Unix variant, even if that is not true anymore, Mann said. "It's going to be difficult just to get mind share over Linux," he said. Users of Solaris + AMP also can avail themselves to Sun's Try and Buy program, in which customers can try out Sun hardware for 60 days. Sun also plans to unveil Solaris Express, Developer Edition on Tuesday. "Itâs a new distribution of OpenSolaris specifically targeted at developers on x86 or x64 workstations or Intel AMD-based laptops and workstations," Roberts said. Developers can use the OpenSolaris distribution to build applications that would then be deployed on Solaris 10 or OpenSolaris. "It's just like [how] a Windows developer can deploy a solution that runs on Linux." Roberts said. An integrated environment for developing applications for Solaris, Java, and Web 2.0 is featured, and a simplified install mechanism is part of the package. Also included is an improved Gnome-based desktop and Sun development tools, including Sun Studio 11 and the NetBeans 5.5 IDE. Sun is packaging more than 150 open-source applications with Solaris Express, Developer Edition. The Glassfish application server is featured as well. Also on Tuesday, Sun will offer a second iteration of its Startup Essentials Program for startup firms to use discounted Sun hardware and Solaris. New to the program is the inclusion of storage solutions and low-end SPARC systems. Discounts have been 60 percent to 70 percent less than list prices. Through its Sun Developer Expert Assistance Program, Sun offers support for $49 per request. An annual subscription featuring support for unlimited requests costs $249.
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Ziff Davis - Sun's plans to offer Solaris code to the open-source community leaves some analysts scratching their heads.
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Sun releases Java 2 Standard Edition 5.0, intended to make Java programs run faster and take less time to build.
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(InfoWorld) - Sun Microsystems will shine more light on accommodations for AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) in the Java realm at the AJAXWorld Conference & Expo in Santa Clara, Calif. next week. Featured on Sun's agenda are the latest details on Project jMaki and Project Phobos, which are two open source efforts. The company also will provide an update on the future of Sun's JavaServer Faces (JSF) component model for Web application development, said Sun's Greg Murray, AJAX architect with the company and the project lead for jMaki. Sun's AJAX efforts focus on making JavaScript more available to Java developers, Murray said. "The problem is, people are afraid of JavaScript," he said. "If we want to keep Java relevant, we have to support this newer programming model [scripting]," Murray said. Web 2.0 and AJAX are very important to Sun, Murray said. The next version of Java, Java Standard Edition 6, will support JavaScript and is expected some time in 2007. Sun's accommodations with JavaScript will make AJAX simpler, said analyst Rikki Kirzner, CEO of Centennial Global Research. "You should be able to make AJAX simpler than it is," she said. AJAX currently lacks accommodations with Java, according to Kirzner.Â  "AJAX is a way to add richness to 3GL code, to any code, and Java doesn't readily embrace it," Kirzner said. The jMaki project enables Java developers to use JavaScript in Java applications as either a JSP (Java Server Pages) tag library or a JSF component. "It's a way of wrapping some of the existing JavaScript frameworks out there and exposing them to Java developers," Murray said. Developers can access Dojo and other frameworks.Â  A Dojo widget could be included in a page, for example. "Basically, jMaki will generate all the JavaScript, everything necessary to put that in the page for you," Murray said. A beta release of jMaki is planned for release in November. "We've been working away just to polish the edges," said Murray. A general release is expected in January or February 2007. Phobos is a way to script server-side code in JavaScript, rather than write a JSP page or a servlet, Murray said. The technology is planned for release early next year. Sun anticipates making jMaki and Phobos add-ons to the Java Enterprise Edition 5 platform. The future of JSF, meanwhile, involves an upgrade being called Project Dynamic Faces or JSF 2.0. This version will extend the component model for server-side components to better support AJAX, Murray said. This release is driven by feedback from users who seek AJAX functionality but want a strict programming model for the server, which JSF provides, Murray said. Dynamic Faces has been available in an early access release since the May timeframe.ADVERTISEMENTMAKE SOA REAL WITH IBM WEBSPHERE PODCASTStreamline processes and maximize efficiency within a proven service oriented architecture. Take back control of your business processes with IBM WebSphere.
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DÃ©jÃ  vu Sun has warned of a bug in its Java software platforms stemming from problems involving an update module designed to address the earlier start of Daylight Saving Time in the US this year.â¦
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InfoWorld - Fresh from introducing a major upgrade to the Java platform, Sun Microsystems officials on Thursday revealed some details of the next release of Java, code-named &#8220;Mustang&#8221; and expected in Spring 2006.
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Sun Microsystems is looking to make life easier for Java developers by seeking a common ground on a data persistence model.
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Key tools to unlock greater chip performance Sun Microsystems has announced new functionality for Solaris Express Developer Edition. The OpenSolaris-based distribution targets developers for the Solaris OS, Java, and Web 2.0 with a set of products that are optimized for multi-core processor architectures and includes new compilers and development tools designed to assist developers in creating better applications more rapidly.â¦
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Solaris tools breath easy The release of the 6.0 version of the Sun Microsystems-sponsored, open-source NetBeans IDE last week sounded the death knell for two other Sun-spawned development tools: Java Studio Enterprise and Java Studio Creator.â¦
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Do mobile application developers need to band together to tackle the tough issues facing them? Attendees at Sun's Java Mobile &amp; Embedded Developer Days Conference in Santa Clara, Calif. on Thursday afternoon will briefly discuss this issue.The idea is that developers must deal with issues such as fragmentation in features, behavior, security policies, and deployment policies and could form an alliance providing a single voice, said Terrence Barr, Sun technical evangelist for the mobile and embedded developer community."We call it the mobile developer alliance and it's essentially a developer activism group," Barr said on Wednesday evening. "It's just a grassroots thing. We haven't thought about it too much. The idea is to bring developers together to give them a common voice and try and work on some of the fragmentation and issues that the industry has."The mobile developer alliance is envisioned as an industrywide effort and not Java-specific. Developers, Barr said, have not had a consistent, uniform voice in facing issues.Among the problems developers face is having to slightly rework applications for each of the many phones, Barr said. Every phone, he said "has certain quirks that you have to deal with, and if you're trying to cover 80, 90 percent of the installed base out there it becomes very painful because you're literally producing hundreds of slightly different versions of the same application," he said.The alliance could serve as sort of a citizens' voice, but the exact mode of operation is still up for discussion, Barr said. Agreement on high-priority issues that developers want to make progress on would be a main focus, as well as trying to establish relationships with players such as carriers and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs)."It's not necessarily [about] battling your enemies but it's about getting everybody on the same page," said Barr. No single player can address them, he said."At the end of the day, [developers] are the ones who have to make all this stuff work," he said.OEMs care about the platform and carriers care about the networks, said Barr. "The developer has to bring all these pieces together and that's why it's so painful," he said.Sun officials Wednesday also talked about Java ME (Micro Edition) development tools, including plans for a Java ME development toolkit with a consolidated environment for both the CDC (Connected Device Configuration) framework and CLDC (Connected Limited Device Configuration) technology.Also highlighted were enhancements planned for the Sun Java Wireless Toolkit for CDLC. Planned features include an application testing framework and support for Java Specification Request (JSR) 256 - Mobile Sensor API Submission to the JCP (Java Community Process) and JSR 280 - XML API for Java ME.The application testing framework is intended to automate manual testing. It will support refined testing scenarios in an emulated environment as well as improvements for testing of applications for users with visual, motor, or dexterity impairments.JSR 256 offers a unified way of managing sensors connected to mobile devices and easy access to sensor data. JSR 280 is designed to provide a general-purpose XML API for next-generation mobile devices.
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(InfoWorld) - Sun continues to work on the Java Kernel, the idea of which is to provide a subset of the Java Runtime Environment tuned to particular programs. Formerly known as Java Browser Edition, the Java Kernel is planned for release as part of Java Standard Edition (SE) 6 update 4, probably in early-2008, a Sun representative said on Friday. Developers will have early access to the code to provide feedback. An original intent was to make Java like a Flash plug-in and enable a resurgence of Java on the browser. Applications would specify which features they need, such as Swing and XML parsing, said Sun staff engineer Ethan Nicholas, who is working on the project. "The basic idea was that the current Java Runtime Environment is simply too big, and most programs require only a small subset of the functionality," Nicholas wrote in September 2006 on his blog. "The 'browser edition' that I suggested would enable you to install exactly the subset of Java that your particular program required, but you would be able to download all of the other functionality on demand (and thus be fully compatible with J2SE)." Some Sun employees doubted the project would fly, according to Nicholas. Even a detailed analysis of the idea painted a bleak picture, he said. "The feature did in fact get submitted as a proposal for Java 7 under the name "Java Kernel" (the idea being that you download a small "kernel" of Java functionality, which is in turn capable of downloading the rest of it)," Nicholas said. Nicholas said he developed a stripped-down JRE installed containing only enough functionality to run "System.out.println," or "Hello World." To determine which files were necessary for the project, Nicholas wrote a program to iterate through the JRE files. "After going through all of the files in this fashion, I was left with an extremely minimal JRE that could run Hello World and ... well, that's about it. But it at least provided a starting point. Building a working installer from this JRE was itself a challenge because several of the files that weren't necessary to run Hello World were still necessary to successfully install the JRE, but I persevered and now have a fully functioning, minimal JRE," Nicholas said. Comments about the project posted on Nicholas's blog varied. "I also believe modularization of the JRE is the solution. Not just for the size of the download, but also for different other issues," one commenter said in 2006. "The problem here is that Java isn't just a browser based technology, it's a platform. When I write a Java applet or application, I expect the platform to be there," said another respondent.
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The Apache Harmony project, serving as an Apache-branded open-source version of Java, is moving forward, but a disagreement remains with Sun over compliance testing.Predating Sun's November 2006 open-sourcing of Java, Harmony was begun in May 2005 and presents an open-source implementation of Java Platform, Standard Edition (SE) 5.0. While the subsequent Sun effort might at first glance seem to have rendered Apache's project obsolete, an Apache official sees room for more than just Sun's open-source Java."There are multiple implementations of Java and there happens to be two implementations in open source," said Geir Magnusson, a founder of the Harmony project at the Apache Software Foundation and a member of the Harmony project management committee, on Wednesday.The Apache Harmony project group announced Wednesday the availability of Harmony 5.0 Milestone 4, another step in delivering a fully compliant implementation of the Java SE 5 specification. Magnusson did not have a date for when Apache plans to release the final product. Harmony is meant for running Java programs and includes the Java Virtual Machine, a Java development kit, and class libraries.Milestone 4 features enhancements and optimizations, including full 64-bit support and JIT (Just-In-Time) compiler optimizations. The compiler takes Java byte code and turns it into native instances for the CPU, improving performance.Also added were functionality and coverage enhancements through class libraries as well as improved virtual machine threading. "What the threading does is it allows multiple code paths to execute at the same time," Magnusson said. This provides more efficient handing of Java code, he added.Apache remains in disagreement with Sun, however, over terms for a TCK (Test Compatibility Kit) to verify that Harmony is compatible with the Java specification."The license Sun is offering to Apache for the TCK, the test kit for the Java specification, prevents Apache from distributing our independent implementation under the Apache license," Magnusson said. According to Apache's interpretation of the Sun license agreement, restrictions are placed on downstream users pertaining to fields of use. Users could not implement the Java variant beyond a plain desktop system, said Magnusson.For example, using Java in a kiosk, which is a plain PC in a box, would be out of compliance, he said.Limiting Apache's distribution of its own software is unacceptable, said Magnusson. "We're stuck between a rock and a hard place," Magnusson said."Obviously, we'd like the TCK," Magnusson said.Because of this ongoing dispute, Apache lately has been voting against any JSR (Java Specification Request) that has Sun as being the specification lead. JSRs serve to amend the Java specification as part of the official JCP (Java Community Process). Sun, Apache believes, is out of compliance with the JCP because the company does not provide TCK licenses that do not inhibit how an implementation can be distributed, said Magnusson.In response, a Sun representative said Wednesday that Apache is free to use any of three options for determining Java compatibility, including a scholarship program free of charge to non-profit organizations like Apache. The representative also referred to an August blog entry from Rich Green, Sun executive vice president for software, which addressed the issue. Green cited Sun's choice of the GNU General Public License version 2 as root of the problem."We knew when we chose the GPL and the free software model for Java technology that we couldn't satisfy everyone's desires. This is the case for the Apache Harmony Project at the Apache Software Foundation," Green said."Sun has offered Apache Harmony a license to use the JCK (Java Compatibility Kit) and the Java Compatible logo at no charge once their implementation passes the tests, and we're even offering free support to help Apache run the JCK. But because the Apache code is not governed by the GPL and does not require code-sharing by any entity using or modifying Harmony, the terms of this license are the same terms under which Sun licenses the JCK to commercial entities that build their own independent implementations of the Java SE platform," Green said."As was made clear in their open letter to Sun, [Apache] is not satisfied with these terms," Green said."Unlike the GPL, the Apache open source license does not require innovation to remain in the open. Java technology governed by the Apache license could be altered by any organization -- commercial or non-profit -- and rendered both incompatible and inaccessible to the community. The trust and value of "Write Once Run Anywhere" could not be upheld," said Green.
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Build a web application in minutes NetBeans and Ruby, part 2 Having limped along in the wake of Eclipse, Sun Microsystems' NetBeans is getting its second wind. One thing that's helping is a fresh focus on scripting, particularly around Ruby on Rails.â¦
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Ziff Davis - The new release of Sun's visual development environment allows users to develop Java applications on Mac OS X, Windows XP and Solaris for deployment on any platform compatible with the Java 2 Standard Edition.