Sun's JavaFX consumer pitch falls on confused ears

Give us meat and potatoes, not video!

Sun Microsystems is once again flogging the consumer pony and talking of monetizing "volume markets" to rally developers to JavaFX, its foray into rich internet applications (RIAs).

Early feedback, though, suggests Sun should focus JavaFX for use among its audience of enterprise customers and stop trying to take on Adobe Systems or Apple on PCs, phones, and gadgets.

Sun chief executive Jonathan Schwartz told a San Francisco launch event Thursday night JavaFX would let them build a one-to-one relationship with consumers that they can monetize. His is the language of years past, when Sun talked of a rising tide for all Java vendors and embraced Web 2.0 and social networks for start-ups using Sun servers and tools.

JavaFX can reach consumers through PCs, TV, phones, set-top-boxes, and even your BMW dashboard, because they all run Java and most have a screen of some kind. Java powered devices are the most prolific devices on earth and are in the hands of consumers, which are - themselves - the heart of the market Sun serves, Schwartz claimed. Sun's core customers are actually banks and service providers, and it only touches consumers vicariously at best.

The browsers that these devices are increasingly running, though, are not the right way to deliver entertainment or other online content to consumers, thanks to the machinations of the browser vendors. Instead, the browser should be used on simply as a download mechanism, Schwartz said.

"A variety of technology companies have begun to use the browser and view the browser as a way to advance their own business as opposed to create an ecosystem," Schwartz said.

"As we talk to those content owners and authors where they own sport franchises or media companies or entertainment companies, they've said to us very clearly the browser is hostile territory. We need a neutral technology platform that lets us bypass the browser or lets us use it for what it's best at: distribution."

Browser power struggle

Schwartz did not explain his comments after, instead leaving quickly following a brief tour of the six or so partners demoing JavaFX applications at the San Francisco event.

Historically, banks, entertainment companies, and service providers - Sun customers, in other words - have been uncomfortable using Windows in their customer applications and services because one company - Microsoft - controls the platform and its roadmap. Also, Microsoft has wanted its logo and the Windows "experience" to dominate at the expense of the content creators' branding.

Those same organizations sound like they are getting twitchy again, as Microsoft builds a plug in for Internet Explorer and Firefox called Silverlight for users to view media but that is - again - controlled by Microsoft.

For these Sun customers, already running Java elsewhere in their organizations and that therefore have Java skills, JavaFX could provide a Silverlight escape route. That's if they haven't heard of Adobe, that is.

Schwartz went on to demonstrate an application built using JavaFX called Foxbox and running nine simultaneous video streams on a desktop. The audio you heard depended on the video feed underneath your cursor at that time. Schwartz then dragged the application out of the browser onto the desktop, where it can live and be opened up by the user next time without going through the browser.

This was important for two reasons: first it demonstrated the speed of JavaFX. "We have the hottest performing VM in the market. By leveraging that we can present nine video streams simultaneously without saturating the CPU," Schwartz said.

He did not provide performance stats, again sticking to broad claims, while Sun after said it's not yet releasing data. That means all we've got to go on is Sun's word and the observations of independent observers like Reg regular Tim Anderson.