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Java is the backbone of Oracle

Nandini Ramani is a tireless advocate of Java technology. It is worth recalling that when Oracle acquired Sun Microsystems in 2009, doubts were cast whether Oracle would promote Java technology.

Nandini Ramani is a tireless advocate of Java technology. It is worth recalling that when Oracle acquired Sun Microsystems in 2009, doubts were cast whether Oracle would promote Java technology. Doubts were cast because Sun tried to make money off Java, but without much success. And chances were that a business-focused company like oracle might relegate open source technology such as Java to the background if business returns were not forthcoming. Java is one of the most important software Oracle has ever acquired and the US software maker is going full-force at trying to make money from Java, the energetic vice-president (development) at Oracle tells Sudhir Chowdhary. In a recent interaction, she delves into Oracle?s business strategy and vision of Java?s future. Excerpts:

How did you get involved with Java technologies?

I used to be a native developer. When Java first came along, just like everybody else I was reluctant to use it. It was new and unproven and there were concerns that it might be slow. Once I started using it and trying it out, it was amazing. The productivity is so much higher with Java. That?s the main reason enterprises use it. If you are writing especially in big enterprises, Java is like hands down the number one choice. And Oracle is making huge investments in making sure that Java thrives in various areas.

What were some of the interesting projects that you have worked on at Sun Microsystems?

At Sun, some of the big things I worked on was the Amazon kindle. We put Java in there at a time when it was pretty revolutionary and nobody knew Amazon was doing this. Today we have Java running on the Kindle, although most people don?t know that.

Then, we partnered with Cisco actually put advanced graphics user interface on Cisco voice over IP phones. One of the benefits of using Java is that it offers a massive ecosystem of tools, books, code, libraries, and applications running across a wide range of hardware and operating system platforms, allowing reduced development costs, faster time to market, and increased developer productivity. With Java as a software platform, independent software vendors can concentrate resources on their core areas of expertise and differentiation, ensuring maximisation of profits.

Tell us how Oracle is taking Java forward?

When you look at the earlier days of Java, we were very intent on leveraging the operating system. We came up with a virtual machine and that was the greatest innovation. We made it cross platform, then we were focused on keeping up with whatever the operating system and hardware was doing in that time frame. And if you watch the releases, we would have a release, then a minor release, then a major release?constantly updating the language, application programming interface or the platform to keep up with both the needs of the markets well as with other languages. We were extremely competitive not just on the desktop space but also on the notebook side. Since the acquisition, there have been speculations around Java.

Speculations that Oracle might relegate Java to the background?

Something like that but if you actually look at it, there?s been huge investment in the community space from Oracle. We are really reaching to the community space. We have a community keynote at JavaOne at San Francisco where we actually invite the community members. We believe that the community is everything.

We are taking open source really seriously. Like Open JDK, we now have an infrastructure and a nice governance model which has been done in conjunction with our partners. We have a lot more external participation in open JDK to make Java a truly open platform. We are investing heavily in Java across the board with a road map which is there for the next 3-5 years and beyond. That?s the way Java used to be and we now feel that we have shifted and got back to that under Oracle.

What is Oracle?s business strategy to promote Java?

Java is the backbone of Oracle. If you look at all the companies that are participating in Open JDK, they clearly have a huge investment. The backbone of several of these companies run on Java. Many of these companies may not make direct revenue, but indirectly their backbone runs on Java and I think that?s the reason why it is so important to Oracle to keep Java vibrant as it is for all of our partners as well. Oracle internally has almost 10,000 Java developers.

A simple question: why do software developers choose Java?

I think the answer traditionally has always been that it is cross-platform, secure and robust. It has excellent tooling, it?s taught in many universities and there are a lot of people who know Java and it continues to stay number one programming language in the TIOBE Programming Community Index; many people get jobs when they learn Java.

So, what do you see in the future for Java?

We want Java to be present everywhere in ?the internet of things?, a popular buzzword today. In all the connected devices and more importantly, connected to Oracle solutions. It?s in our interest as well as we want to save money for the customers who already are buying things from Oracle. We want to simplify their lives by offering them an end-to-end solution, from embedded to enterprise.

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First published on: 14-05-2012 at 01:23 IST
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