The Java Community Process(SM) Program - Community Resources

Use of JCP site is subject to the JCP Terms of Use and the Oracle Privacy Policy

Q & A WITH APLIX

Why do you want a seat on the EC?

Aplix has been a Sun Java license since 1996 and a JCP member since 2000. We seek to continue ME's expansion and growth in the community and are looking for ways to foster cutting edge technology to improve the development platform and, ultimately, the end user experience. Aplix has long been an advocate for ME Java and has a long track record of participation in the JSR Expert Groups. Some such groups include JSRs 118, 120, 135, 139, 172, 179, 180, 184, 185, 195, 205, 211, 226, 228, 229, 230, 232, 233, 234, 239, 246, 271, 287, 304, and 307.

As a member of the ME Executive Committee, we would look to bring our experience and ideas to the Executive Committee to try and help guide the future direction of J2ME. We see a dynamic environment evolving in the industry, particularly right now. We have and continue to believe that J2ME is the premier development environment for embedded devices and look to help continue J2ME maintain this position in the community at large.

We believe that we will add significant value to the ME Executive Committee based on our experience implementing and shipping Java in the wireless industry. We have phones shipping in all major Java markets in the world. This enables us to share our insight and overall understanding of global Java requirements with the ME Executive Committee members. A seat on the EC would help Aplix bring our customers voices to the table to help shape the continuing future of ME.
What changes would you like to make happen during your three-year tenure on the EC (if elected)?

We see ourselves as advocates for the end users as they are ultimately our end customers (our customer's customers if you will). Aplix has long sought to add value to Java and we seek to continue this as members of the Executive Committee. There are a few issues that our customers discuss with us around pricing and the time it takes new JSRs to go from idea to final spec that we would like to address with the Executive Committee in order to seek ways to improve or streamline the overall process.
The majority of EC members seem to represent big corporations. How can we ensure that the interests of the broader development community are represented?

By joining the ME Executive Committee, Aplix would be able to represent the interests/needs of the global Java market by drawing on our wide customer base of Taiwanese ODMs, Japanese, US, European, Chinese OEMs and wireless operators from around the world. This includes all of our partner companies who may not be part of the ME Executive Committee. Examples include content providers, Java hardware accelerators, GPU vendors, IDE vendors, WAP browser vendors, middleware engine vendors and many others that we work with in various JSRs.

Further, Aplix works with content houses to help foster new application development. As content is king to the end user, it is imperative that we make efforts to bring the entire ecosystem view point to the Executive Committee. Aplix has the rare position to be close to large manufacturers, operators, and the broader development community in a way the answers both sides of the debate in a balanced manner. Further, Aplix itself is a small but nimble company of only a few hundred people. So, we ourselves are not a big corporation and are part of the broader development community.
How should the JCP adapt to the Open Source movement?

The Open Source movement itself continues to evolve so this is not a simple question to answer. The JCP already addresses some of the Open Source ideals. We look to explore other areas such as test availability that may have a strong impact on the community as a whole and align the JCP even better with the Open Source movement.
If you are elected on the JCP EC which will be your top priorities over your term:
- energize your company's participation in the community: submit new JSRs, actively participate in EGs, motivate spec leads to become mentors ...
- evangelize the importance of standards
- improve the process
- other
Aplix seeks to do all of these. If we are limited to picking one as the "first choice", we would like to explore process improvements the most at this time. However, we will certainly continue to evangelize the importance of Java and standards in the community at large. Also, we look to do this not just for the Java community but for the wireless community at large.
What role do you think standards and standards development will have in the future (if any)?

Standards and standards development continue to play a quintessential role for embedded platform development. Although we understand that some new technologies may need to be proven "in the lab", we continue to seek to bring these to standards as soon as possible. Some may say that ME is reaching a steady state where most embedded technologies are defined. We disagree. Embedded devices will continue to grow and evolve. It is essentially not only to our development communities but to the industry at large that standards continue to be supported and improved. Without the movement of the standards bodies and organizations, embedded systems will either fragment to an unusable state or become legacy. Since neither are acceptable, we believe in the continuation of standards development in the industry and outside the industry as well.