Reports of JavaME's imminent death are greatly exaggerated, according to Sun Microsystems vice president James Gosling. In a blog post denying that the Java Micro Edition platform is facing extinction in favor of the desktop-centric Java Standard Edition, Gosling writes: "Some folks are far too eager to misinterpret statements and put words in my mouth. The early versions of JavaME were very simple and limited, a direct reflection of the fact that early phones themselves were simple and limited: we had to work with what we had. But as time has passed, and cell phones have become more powerful and capable, JavaME has grown up too. Cell phones are becoming the new desktop. We've been saying this for years. Over time, it's pretty clear that JavaME and JavaSE will converge and become largely indistinguishable. It goes both ways: JavaSE has a much more sophisticated graphics API, and JavaME is growing there. JavaME has a location API (GPS) and one could easily make the argument that it should be available in JavaSE. This is a process of evolution, not 'out with the old, in with the new.'"
According to Gosling, the JavaFX product suite contains within it an implementation of JavaME: "It is not some weird new beast."
For more on JavaME:
- read Gosling's blog post