Sun tries to boost Java-on-Linux uptake
Java’s steward announces two distribution agreements to expand J2SE on Linux platforms
San Jose, Calif. (August 15, 2000) — Sun Microsystems announced at the LinuxWorld Conference & Expo two agreements designed to expand the distribution of J2SE (Java 2 Standard Edition) on Linux platforms. SuSE, a software provider in Oakland, Calif., and San Francisco-based TurboLinux agreed to distribute the Java 2 platform to Linux customers.
Sun said that the broader distribution of Java on Linux will enable customers to take advantage of the increasing number of Java applications that can run on Linux.
“We haven’t had [Java] on Linux until recently, but now that we do, there are all kinds of applications for it,” said Blake Connell, the product line manager for J2SE. There are nearly 2.5 million Java developers, and most of the applications they develop will now be able to run on Linux, he said.
SuSE and TurboLinux will distribute Java 2 Standard Edition, but not J2EE.
Sun announced at the JavaOne conference in June that J2EE 1.2.1 had the capability of running on Linux.
“There’s a little piece of J2EE that we ported to Linux and it runs on top of J2SE,” Connell said.
Connell added that Java 2 is a key part Sun’s strategy to make Java available on Linux. Other Sun products in that strategy include StarOffice and Linux versions of the Forte tools.
The announcements with SuSE and TurboLinux expand on similar Java distribution agreements that Sun has with MandrakeSoft of Pasadena, Calif., and Caldera Systems of Orem, Utah.
Notably absent from the list is Red Hat of Research Triangle Park, N.C.
“There’s nothing in the pipeline in the next month or two, but we’ll continue to talk to them,” said Kristinn Thorleifsson, product manager for J2SE at Sun.
The next version of J2SE, 1.3, is currently in beta, and Connell said it would be available in early October. The version that comes after that, J2SE 1.3.1, is slated for March, at which point the versions for Solaris, Linux, and Windows will all be in sync as versions 1.3.1.
