Sun has announced details to release their Java Micro Edition (J2ME), under an open-source licence. J2ME is a Java application platform for mobile devices, which can be used to provide applications for a broad range of embedded devices, such as mobile phones, PDAs, TV set-top boxes, and printers. Due to the platform independence of Java, J2ME makes it possible to write an application only once for a wide range of devices. The company believes that a move to open-source will make it easier for the people who report bugs to fix them, hopefully resulting in much more error-free code.
Simon Phipps, Sun's chief open source officer, said that he hoped to see the first batch of code released under an Open Source Initiative (OSI)-approved license by the end of the year.
Phipps said it would also take some time for Sun to build an open-source community around Java ME. "I don't think there is anyone in Sun that knows how to create an open-source community [so we are looking to other open-source projects for help in this area]."