HP Says "No" To Pure Java

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March 20, 1998 (7:17 AM EST)

By Rich Levin,

Hewlett-Packard's Internet software business unit in Cupertino, Calif., is shipping a "clean room" implementation of the Java virtual machine for embedded systems. Cloning the Java run time allows HP and its licensees to sidestep Sun Microsystems' stiff licensing fees and technology implementation requirements.

Microsoft is the first licensee of HP's Java VM clone for use in the Windows CE operating system, HP sources say. To avoid infringing on Sun Microsystems' Java trademarks, the 512-Kbyte small-footprint VM will be termed "Java compliant," but will not be officially referred to as "Java compatible" or a "Java VM" clone.

The cloned run time also provides extended APIs that HP sources admit break Java's portability in two. "'Write once run anywhere' doesn't work in embedded devices that have very limited functionality," says an HP source. "This is an alternative implementation."

Sources say HP plans to offer its Java VM clone to embedded systems vendors for a fraction of the cost of Sun's officially sanctioned implementations. "They [Sun] are asking for a lot of money per unit for their embedded Java VM," says another source familiar with HP's plans. "People that are getting bled by Sun have an alternative now that is potentially much lower cost from HP."

Analysts say this could open the floodgates for a variety of Java run-time implementations not officially sanctioned by Sun. "It's not unlike when Compaq and Phoenix first cloned IBM's PC ROM BIOS in the early 1980's," says J.P. Morgenthal, president of NC.Focus, an IT consulting and analysis firm in Hewlett, N.Y. "That sparked the PC clone revolution. IBM couldn't stop it, and there's probably nothing Sun can do to stop this."