I just spent the first three weeks of August trying to install the Java
Mobile SDK. Usually I assume it's my fault, but after trying every
possibility under the sun, two, three, four or a dozen times, I have to
ask: 'is it me or is it the distribution?'
What is wrong with Oracle?
Java has always been quirky, but now Oracle seems to have taken it to a
new level.
A couple of quick observations. One, you can no longer download the
document packages. This is important. Sun used to package all the api,
tutorials, instructions, everything, into a zip package you could install
on your desktop computer. It was all set up in nice, convenient, html
frames making access to the data fast, rather than have to wait for pages
to load online. Oracle has stopped distributing the zipped download and
has added a distribution agreement, stating you can only make local
copies. Waiting for page to load online cripples development of source
code, as I open dozens if not hundreds of api pages when writing my code.
Two! Oracle has added a registration web page, that boots up
automatically when you install the JDK 6 and possible JDK 7. Not that
there's anything wrong with this, but it just goes to demonstrate Oracle's
intent and their move to put a strangle hold on Java.
Three! One of the most important innovations of our time is Java
ME, for cell phones, portable devices and even memory cards, TV sets and
refrigerators. With the Samsung/Apple case this make Java even more
important. Yet Oracle doesn't make any extra attempt to document
installation or usage. In fact they seem to be working hard to control
costs associated with developing Java and documentation. If open source
doesn't take over I fear for future of Java in Oracle's strangle hold.
I've been downloading over a dial-up connection so I don't
have all the results. Maybe Oracle is attempting to put everything mobile
into the Netbeans wizard/template machine/IDE. I can't download the 257MB
Netbeans package that includes JME 3.0.5. I can only download JME 3.0.5
seperately, which no longer contains the wizards or toolkits. Instead I
must use it from the command line. Oracle has been gracious enough to
leave and emulator in with the JME download. It doen't work though.
Sun's J2ME 2.5.2 works just fine, but the latest and greatest, 3.0.5 has
all sorts of hoops to jump through. The worst hoop, the last one before
I finally got it to work, that only took two weeks, that I couldn't afford
to spend, was that you had to use the 1.3 source and target commands.
I'm not sure exactly what target 1.3 and source 1.3 are,
but I assume it has something to do with the Java SDK distribution, which
is up to 1.7 now. I couldn't get anything to run on the emulator until
I compiled my source code with -target 1.3 and -source 1.3. Thanks to a
stackoverflow.com blog that talked about setting 'compliance' to 1.3, for
Elcipse, the only thing that made sense from the command line was setting
the target. It worked. I don't why it worked, but it worked.
It just seems to me that Oracle is saying 'screw the
little guy'. Well, maybe they're right. Sun folded, but I always
suspected that was because of their arrogance. I would hope Oracle can
see Java as a way of cementing a base relationship with programmers by
supporting open source and documentation for Java.
