Convergence of Java Technologies

There has been news lately about “Sun’s decision to kill Java ME” and use Java SE instead as a replacement technology. I believe that these people have got it all wrong! I also believe in Mr. James Gosling’s explanation in his blog.

I think, it really needs to be consolidated into one whole platform plainly called the Java Platform with all the rich API’s and libraries available to the single platform. Currently there’s just too visible a line between Java SE, ME, EE and all the things that make Java powerful.

The segmentations to cater to different users is becoming blurry. We are entering a great change wherein the software (for instance email/instant messaging/games) we use everyday does not have be very different between our desktops and our mobile devices. When email started to appear in mobile phones, we could only read headers and portions of the email. Now we can even read the attachments.

The computing power of what used to be a desktop PC is now on our mobile phones and mobile devices. A few “moments” ago we used to have “640 x 480″ screens on our desktop. We our now starting to see these display resolutions on our mobile phones. What used to be processors speeds on our desktop are now finding it’s way on mobile phones. The things that can be done and displayed on a mobile phone is expanding and adjustments have to be made.

With all these changes in hardware technology, I believe that the best way to make adjustments to software is via convergence. It will make development easier by not having so much difference in the way an application is churned out into the market. This in the long run will benefit the consumers by making available a rich number of applications that they can use depending on their needs.