Sun pleases IT, not shareholders

Twenty-five years after Sun Microsystems was founded, the company's new commitment to open source has bolstered its position with the IT community, says Computerworld.

Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz has promised to release the code of the company's entire software portfolio, from the Solaris OS to the Java development platform and beyond. This, and the fact that Sun representatives sit on countless standards bodies, has made the IT community happy.

However, Sun's shareholders remain less enthusiastic. The article says shareholders see open-sourcing products as a threat to profitability.

Sun Microsystems is rolling out an India-based English language portal for Java developers, reports India's Financial Express.

Sun says the move is aimed at driving a strategic relationship with the individual developer, allowing Java technology to evolve to create markets and standards, rather than lock developers into proprietary systems.

According to the report, a recent survey shows the overall economic impact of Java is expected to be about 2.5% of the Indian GDP. The Indian Java economy is 10% to 15% of the world's Java economy. The report says both these figures are expected to increase in the years to come.

The latest version of the Flux Java job scheduling, workflow and process management engine features a Web 2.0 workflow designer, reports Sys-Con.

The report says the workflow designer enables users of Flux version 7.3 to create and edit workflows using a drag-and-drop interface with only a Web browser.

The new Web 2.0 tool also has the advantage of a thin-client architecture, which enables it to work in a simple browser environment.

Motorola has introduced a global competition that will give two game developers the opportunity to have their winning applications published by mobile entertainment company, I-play.

According to PhoneContent.com, the MOTODEV Game Developer Challenge is designed to recognise independent developers for their work towards creating the next big thing in mobile gaming.

Developers can put their skills to the test by entering their unpublished games in one of two contest categories: best Java game submitted for the Motorola MOTOKRZR K1 handset, or best windows game for the Motorola MOTO Q family of devices.