Forgot your password?

Close
typodupeerror
Android Blackberry Google Open Source Oracle

Can Android Without Dalvik Avoid Oracle's Wrath? 264

Posted by Soulskill
from the just-kidding-nobody-can-avoid-oracle's-wrath dept.
jfruhlinger writes "Despite the fact that Oracle is suing Google over claims that Android violates Java IP, Android is roaring ahead in the marketplace. Still, some groups are wondering if they can implement Android without incurring Oracle's current or future wrath by avoiding the Dalvik VM. A project called IcedRobot aims to create a GNU-compatible version of Android, and rumors abound that RIM is planning on putting an OpenJDK-version of Android on its upcoming PlayBook tablets."
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

Can Android Without Dalvik Avoid Oracle's Wrath? More

Can Android Without Dalvik Avoid Oracle's Wrath?

Comments Filter:

  • Re:Ditch Java (Score:5, Insightful)

    by eln (21727) on Sunday February 20 2011, @01:01AM (#35257770) Homepage
    Java is easy to use and highly portable. There are also legions of very low-cost Java programmers available in any number of countries like India and China. Moving to a different language would be highly painful for most companies, especially in the highly competitive world of mobile software where speed to market and cost are key, and 99.9% of your users don't give a damn what language you're using or what Oracle thinks about it.

  • Why Support Java At All? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by FrankDrebin (238464) on Sunday February 20 2011, @01:06AM (#35257782) Homepage
    WIth Oracle getting all pissy, and with alternate first-class platform-neutral languages like Python up-and-coming as first-class on Android, it may be attractive for Google to skip the Java language entirely.

  • Android without Java... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Microlith (54737) on Sunday February 20 2011, @01:10AM (#35257794)

    Might as well use MeeGo. At least then contributions from the community and improvements to various parts of the operating system would benefit more than just one platform.

  • Ugh! Oracle (Score:1, Insightful)

    by RudyHartmann (1032120) on Sunday February 20 2011, @01:22AM (#35257828)
    I am really starting to totally loathe Oracle. I know I am not the only person that feels this way also. Oracle's PR is going to only make more people avoid any of their products. Can you say, "slow decline"? There's another big software company that is almost irrelevant on mobile phones that I think will also experience this. Guess who they might be.

  • Re:Why Support Java At All? (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 20 2011, @01:52AM (#35257920)

    Compatibility.

    How are they supposed to dump the vast majority of their application base? It would be suicide.

    Python is not even close to a substitute for Java. It's good, but not that good.

  • Re:Moot (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 20 2011, @04:57AM (#35258486)
    I really want to post a jerk comment like "Aaaahahahahahaha" and just leave it at that, but I'll bite. What superpowers would you use to save Intel, if only they were willing to put their fate in your hands? The same ones you use to see the future, perhaps?

  • Perhaps this is a bit "Get off my lawn!", but... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by AtlantaSteve (965777) on Sunday February 20 2011, @08:05AM (#35259086)

    ... what are you kids TALKING about? It seems like most of the replies on this branch of the thread are about convergence between phones and PC's, and eventually using productivity apps on your phone. Who on earth wants to use a 3-inch phone to manipulate a spreadsheet, type in a word processor, or anything beyond the most specialized niche of data-entry for any extended period of time? Even tablet devices are poorly-suited for such tasks.

    The intended purpose of a smart phone is not content generation or productivity. Their purpose is to read stuff (e.g. important email, directions to the restaurant, etc), and to play Angry Birds... until you've finished your car trip or boring meeting, and can return to your PC. You might tap a one-sentence reply to an email (with crappy grammar and capitalization), or enter the name of the restaurant, but that's about it for productive data-entry.

    The limitation behind this is not the number of CPU cores in the device, nor its power budget. The limitation is the form factor! Duh! You can cram a supercomputer into the thing... yet even with the most clever swipey-typing system, it will still suck compared to a keyboard and full-sized monitor screen. Now, the idea of docking stations for your phone (or perhaps a standard docking port for phones on your PC) does sound like it could be useful in some circumstances... but I'm highly skeptical of full-blown "convergence".

If you lose your temper at a newspaper columnist, he'll get rich, or famous or both.