Java App Store thoughts

Sun has released a Java app store and an accompanying developer portal. It is interesting to see that they are going after the consumer software market. In his blog, The Schwartz points out that the JVM is installed on a  huge number of client PCs (billions), and various other devices. The whole thing reeks of "we are cool like you, Apple, cause we are everywhere!"

So they want to cash in on that ubiquity. One interesting question here is, why is Java so ubiquitous on the client side? I can throw some reasons out there: web pages that require a browser plugin. Fringe apps and games. Bored downloaders that ran out of things to install. And bundling.

In short, consumers didn't really make a huge jump and say "Wow let's download Java!" How are we making the logical conclusion that they will do so now? The only possiblity is that some insane marketing juggernaut makes Java a household name, or some app makes it "cool with the kids." Sun is not a marketing juggernaut, neither is Oracle, hell, neither is Microsoft (Bill Gates!?!?). The iPhone doesnt have a VM either :) Uh oh, spaghettios! The people that are most excited about the Java Store are nerds like yours truly. Yay, now I can make tons of cash too without having to learn Objective C on the iPhone!

Allow me to quote a popular social critic: "Sounds pretty irrelevant."

The one thing that it will do if it takes off is the streamlining content delivery. You can choose to bundle various OpenGL bindings (JOGL and LWJGL) for advanced graphics as well as an OpenAL binding for sound (JOAL). Very nice. Trusted source, lots of bandwidth, classification of apps. Looks like a promising start. But without a deep hierachy of categories (the current one is shallow and weird), and a robust ratings interface, this thing is going nowhere. Also, a 50mb size limit on apps? Oh, my. Oh and please, please stop plugging JavaFX every time you say Java. Seriously, it's getting to be so annyoing. And when people get annoyed, they play with their iPhone.

Here's hoping for that marketing juggernaut. Come on baby, daddy needs a new pair of everything!