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by coldtea 3736 days ago
No Google "fanboy" (I actually hate the term, it's for immature 20 somethings to use), but Google didn't break the Java ecosystem IMHO.

The created a whole new language that happens to be mostly based on Java, for a very specific target OS where Java wasn't even available before.

The familiarity with Java is merely a bonus and boost for the adoption of Android programming from Java devs. It's wasn't meant (and it isn't) a jab at taking the Java development market (which is was Microsoft did -- going after the same people using Sun's Java, and for the same environments they used it in).
1 comments
GFK_of_xmaspast 3736 days ago
> The created a whole new language that happens to be mostly based on Java

That's the "extend" part of "embrace, extend, extinguish."

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coldtea 3736 days ago
Not in the old MS-SUN wars sense.

Extend implies extending an existing X product.

Google made their own runtime, NOT calling it X, and NOT targeting the same platforms where Java was available. And of course this never had any impact on regular Java itself -- so no extinguish part. Nobody stopped using Java on the server or the client even, to use Google's version, because it's not offered at all there.

Their language not only didn't target existing Java deployments, but it was also created (and has always been constrained) for a new platform where Java never existed, and for a usage domain where Java had negligible presence (mobile development in post-iPhone smartphones).

And even if they HAD targeted normal Java deployments, it would have been totally find, and not "embrace, extend, extinguish" if it wasn't called Java. It would have been like MS' C#, not MS' altered Java.

If you don't pretend it's the same product (like MS did), then "embrace, extend, extinguish" is exactly how evolution works in most cases, including the natural one -- things get replicated and some crucial extra sauce is added, and if it's good, then the old things wither.

In fact, in this sense (where you mimic another opponent) "embrace, extend, extinguish" is exactly what projects like OpenOffice, Gnumeric, Gimp, etc intended to do.

But, as said above, this, while also fine, is totally different to what Google did.

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