Sun urges Indian developers to team up for next-gen Java

BANGALORE: Sun Tech Days event in Bangalore started off with a bang, with Jeff Jackson, Sun Microsystems' Vice President of Java Developer Platform and Strategy, coaxing developers to work together and collaborate with the Java community. "Java is becoming more visible in development. Developers like to see codes and check how to get their bugs fixed for Mustang," he said.

Mustang is the code name of the next major Java 2SE release. He added that Sun allows developers to participate on the platform and also to get a competitive edge through participation. "Developers have also been demanding strong cross-platform compatibility and they want that value to be retained," he said.

Jackson believes that Indian developers have what it takes to lead this initiative. "India's prowess as an IT software hub is well known. India can take huge strides in moving products and in collaborating on standards and platforms."

Jackson urged developers to get more productive by participating in the next generation Java platform code-named Mustang. "This would give India a leg up in Java development. It is important to collaborate and enrich the ecology for everyone," he said.

Reiterating Sun's bullish take on India, Sun technology evangelist, Matt Thompson, said that Sun had invested a lot in India since it is a hot bed of IT. As many of Sun's products are developed out of India, said Jackson.

However Thompson warned that India faced competition not just from China, but also other emerging hubs like Philippines, Korea and Brazil.

Sun's collaborative Website for developers java.net has 150,000 developers across the world working on it.

Sun allows developers to review and contribute to Mustang by allowing weekly snapshots of the complete binaries and javadoc for Mustang.

He said that another initiative called project Glassfish, would focus on compatibility and would look at improving developer access to J2EE source.