Re: J2ME classes in GNU classpath

[S. Meslin-Weber]

Hi Twisti!

I would absolutely *love* to have a freely[0] available version of
J2ME[1] as I personally see an open source solution being the best fit
for mobile devices.

One of the biggest headaches of existing _commercial_ J2ME solutions is
that they're all very much incompatible with each other. The vagueness
of the JSR specs have resulted in fragmentation of the J2ME space (and
even spawned special tools to get around this![2]). JVMs from the same
supplier can also be incompatible with later versions. Let's also not
forget that some operators break their shipping implementations on
purpose to lock their users in certain ways... This means that
developers end up with device-specific code all over their product (I've
seen a j2me game download page with 30+ links, one per device/firmware
combination!)

I see a GNU Classpath backed J2ME as an ideal solution to Sun's J2ME
fragmentation problem. Provide a Reference Implementation based on an
open source solution and funnel all fixes back to it.

The result? Everyone has a standard baseline of dependable and
compatible code.

The only hurdle as far as GNU Classpath is concerned is that of the
availability of the relevant JSR specifications. Most of these are
currently behind click-through licenses and some have problematic
terms[3].  As with standard desktop Java, the issue of TCKs also arises.
I hope that once a satisfactory solution for J2SE's TCK evolves, a
similar approach can be used for a J2ME TCK.

Steph

[0] As per the FSF's definition of Free, of course!
[1] Of course we'll have to settle on 'which' J2ME to implement...
[2.a] http://www.javaworld.com/javaworld/jw-05-2004/jw-0524-fragment_p.html
[2.b] http://www.netbeans.org/kb/articles/tutorial-j2mefragmentation-40.html
[2.c] http://www.microjava.com/nokia/documents
[2.d] http://jroller.com/page/j2medeveloper?entry=comments_on_nokia_s_soa
[2.e] ... and many more - fragmentation leads to manageability nightmares
[3] Terms including non-release of non-certified code!

-- 
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Stephane Meslin-Weber         Email: address@hidden
Senior Software Engineer      Web: http://odonata.tangency.co.uk
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