Java is the language of network of things

Where do you see Java in future?

Everywhere and wherever the developers take it. The complexity of the networks of things is increasing and will increase further at an accelerated pace. Staggering lines of codes, sizes of applications and number of nodes has to be handled with the most simplistic across the platform solutions. Java is the only language that makes it possible combating complexity effectively - be it with JDS 1.5, Netbean or Java Studio. The future is software all around us embedded in things and we believe it will be Java everywhere. It is already there on mobile phones more will follow. The Java community is expanding. We already have 300,000 developers and in India itself. The number is growing every day. The movement has its own momentum and is building up because Java brings in all kinds of diversity on one platform.

There has been a lot of noise about making Java an open source language. What is Sun's stand on it?

Java is already an open source language. The code is available to just about any developer who can build applications using it. The only issue we differ with is the definition of open source as is widely understood. If you build using Java and want to redistribute the product then it has to be tested for interoperability by Sun to ensure that what is going around is Java as we have conceptualized and retains its essence on which it sells. As the developer is using our brand Java and we do not want to lose our brand value by not exercising rights on what is selling as Java. Java as it is today has reached there only because of the Java community, which is just like any other open source community.

Can Sun and Microsoft come together and impact the future of Java in any way?

Well we tried. But what do Microsoft do with C#? They tried to pass off Java as their proprietary software. The lawsuit is a bygone story now. We won. They lost. And they paid lot of cash to us. Microsoft does not go by a collaborative approach. I do not see any collaboration possibility between the two, as I do not expect their approach to change. They are certainly not community oriented.

What kind of product development is happening in India?

All kinds. The developers in India are doing everything enterprise as well as support software. India has very broad skills. They are the ones who populated the Silicon Valley and proved their mettle. Top engineers are all Indians. Java world is especially diverse. Java development is not limited to pockets it is happening all over the world and India is playing a substantial role. What direction and shape it would take is difficult to predict though the wild forecasts we had made on Internet boom didn’t go bust just arrived a year late. It validated that what we predict is not insane and we do have the luxury of predictability in the sense of trends at large.

How do you see Web services evolving?

Web services is not something which has come up lately. It has been around for quite some time though of late, it is being talked about more. It will evolve as all things do. It has its own pace. E-bay would have never thought people will sell and buy cars online but people just decided to do it.

What message would you like to give for Indian developers?

I have been going around and spreading the message of Java. But I have been concentrating more of my efforts not on Java technology but on the tools, which build on top of the various platforms. For the developers I would join the community and be at it. Java is the language of the network of things.