Java: What does Its Future Hold?

Fourteen years ago, a marketing genius at Sun Microsystems changed the name of a cross-platform experimental language from the very dependable-sounding "Oak" to the hyper-caffeinated moniker "Java," and proved once again why engineers are scared of the power that the marketing department can unleash when lightning strikes.

That era of unbridled hype is long gone, and if anyone at Sun wanted to rebrand the language today to accurately reflect its stature in the computing world, they might switch it back to Oak. Although the Java language is not truly ubiquitous, it is found in many, many different places, and it has a strong reputation for being steadfast and well-engineered. Java code may never dominate all computers or all platforms, but it is as close to a lingua franca as there is.

[ Who will benefit if Oracle spins off MySQL? Not MySQL customers, says InfoWorld's Neil McAllister. Perhaps only a European MySQL fork called Maria, suggests InfoWorld's Bill Snyder. ]

James Gosling illustrated this point when he took the stage at Oracle's OpenWorld and pulled out a JavaFX slideshow filled with a list of statistics: 850 million-plus Java-enabled desktops and "10 billion-ish" Java-enabled devices. Java virtual machines are extremely common in the next generation of gadgets from the Kindle and the Blu-ray disk players to smartphones, including not so smart cell phones. iPhone apps may run on tens of millions of iPhones, but Java is buried in 2.6 billion phones from the relatively dumb phones available for $20 to the latest generations of BlackBerrys and Android phones.

Gosling's pilgrimage to Oracle's flagship conference was just one of the ways that Larry Ellison wants to reassure the engineers about the future of the language. Oracle wants to absorb Sun, and it must still wait for European regulators to approve the decision. The U.S. government signed off, but the European feds seem to be worried about what happens to MySQL. The show that Gosling and McNealy put on for Oracle's customers suggest that the Java world will get more attention and resources than ever from Oracle once the merger is complete.

Ellison's signals won't matter to many people in the near future because Java today has more inertia than a supertanker. Changing direction won't happen without great planning and plenty of energy. But change makes people nervous and encourages speculation. Some argue that Oracle's business model is so different that it is bound to bring widespread change to every part of the Java ecosystem. But for every strong argument, there's an equally powerful reason why Oracle might want to leave well enough alone.

Enterprise seeds

Java first found a dominant role in the server farm, which remains the primary place where people expect to find a Java VM. The big servers are also the main home for all of Oracle's creations, so it makes the combination an easy match. Although PHP coders may love MySQL, many of the most serious projects for the most data-intensive businesses use Java wrapped around Oracle and this won't change soon.

Sun says there are more than 1 million downloads of its GlassFish app server every month, and older platforms such as Tomcat are still common. Many of the most serious enterprises, such as banks and insurance companies, reach for Java developers because the technology is well-respected, fast, and truly cross-platform. Many continue to build their Web applications on a mixture of PCs and Macintoshes before deploying them on Unix machines.

Still, the language is no longer the newest, hippest syntax. Some programmers grouse about the strictures of static typing and run to newer or simpler languages such as Ruby, Python, or PHP. All of those extra characters are just a drag, and some of the younger programmers view all of those curly brackets and camelCaseVariableNames as baroque as tailfins or chrome. Many of the simpler Web applications are developed in these languages now because they facilitate quick changes and rapid prototyping.

Source:

http://www.infoworld.com/d/developer-world/java-what-does-its-future-hold-978

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Oracle University Certifies Over 42,000 Oracle Professionals In India

As part of its ongoing commitment to enhance the skills of IT Professionals in the country, Oracle announced that Oracle University, one of the largest corporate training organizations in the world, has trained and certified over 42,000 Oracle Professionals in India since it began operations in the country in 1995.

Oracle University offers training and certification programmes to Indian students through its own six classrooms across India in New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai and Kolkata, and through the classrooms of over 325 Authorised Training Partners such as NIIT, SQL Star and New Horizons.

Oracle University enables individuals to learn the use of leading Oracle technologies including Oracle Database, PeopleSoft, JD Edwards, Siebel and E-Business Suite Applications through classroom as well as Web-based training that can either be self-learning or instructor-led. Oracle awards different levels of certifications to students such as Oracle Certified Associate (OCA), Oracle Certified Professional (OCP) and Oracle Certified Masters (OCM) on its technology and applications offerings. On average, Oracle University conducts 2000 exams every month across all its certification tracks in India. Oracle also offers Workforce Development Program (WDP) to working professionals through a wide education partner network.

"Oracle Certified Professionals have the proven skills and training to maintain projects on time and on budget, leading to a quicker return on investment for customers," says Parag Bhayani, an Oracle Certified Professional at Infosys. "Infosys collaborates with Oracle University and certifies their large pool of Oracle professionals on various OCP certificates like E-Business Suite and Oracle Database."

"Oracle certified professionals have provided measurable benefits to our customers and have helped them gain higher productivity for their organizations," said Alok Tandon, Director Education, Oracle University in India. "In fact, according to a recent survey conducted among Oracle certified professionals, over 88 % of respondents think they are better qualified to manage more complex issues and projects because they are Oracle-trained and certified."

Souurce:

http://www.itvarnews.net/news/5866/Oracle-University-Certifies-Over-42000-Oracle-Professionals-In-India.html

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Update: Sun to Cut 3,000 Jobs as Oracle Awaits Merger Approval

Sun is losing $100 million per month while it waits for the proposed Oracle buyout to pass regulatory muster

Sun Microsystems will lay off up to 3,000 workers over the next 12 months as Oracle awaits approval from European regulators for its acquisition of the company.

Sun is losing $100 million a month while it awaits approval for the deal, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison said last month, so news of the layoffs came as no great surprise.

In a filing with U.S. regulators Tuesday, Sun said it was making the cuts "in light of the delay in closing the acquisition." It said the move will "better align the company’s resources with its strategic business objectives."

Sun will take a charge of $75 million to $125 million for the job cuts, mostly for cash severance payments, it said. It expects to incur most of the charges in the second and third quarters of its fiscal year, which means the current calendar quarter and the first three months next year.

Job cuts were a likely consequence of the deal in any case. Tony Sacconaghi, a technology analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., has said Oracle may cut up to 10,000 jobs once the deal is complete.

Sun already announced plans last November to axe between 5,000 and 6,000 jobs to improve its financial position. The cuts announced Tuesday, which amount to about 10 percent of Sun's workforce, are in addition to the earlier reductions, a Sun spokeswoman said.

The U.S. Department of Justice approved Oracle's $7.4 billion acquisition of Sun in August, but the European Commission has launched an investigation that could last until January. The regulators say they are concerned about the effect that Oracle's ownership of Sun's MySQL database will have on the open-source Software Market.

Source:

http://www.infoworld.com/t/hardware/update-sun-cut-3000-jobs-oracle-awaits-merger-approval-766

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