Sun Still Betting on Java Multimedia

Sun Microsystems (www.sun.com) kicked off a renewed push for Java as a Web client with the release this week of Java Web Start 1.0, software that automates the process of deploying and managing client-side applications.

Sun is also vigorously re-introducing Java as a multimedia and streaming technology with the release this week of Java Media Framework 2.1.1, an optional API package for the Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition (J2SE).

JMF 2.1.1, roughly a 4MB download for the runtime, is an enhanced version of JMF. It does not add any new API calls from JMF 2.0, which was released about 18 months ago.

JMF's capabilities include media capture, compression, streaming, playback and support for important media types and codecs such as M-JPEG, H.263, MP3, Real-time Transport Protocol and Real-time Streaming Protocol (RTP/RTSP), Macromedia's Flash, QuickTime, Microsoft's AVI format, and MPEG-1. For streaming, JMF 2.2.1 can feed streaming servers such as the Darwin QuickTime servers. Since it's Java, no proprietary player is needed.

In addition, JMF 2.1.1 includes an open media architecture allowing developers to access and manipulate individual components of the media playback and capture process, such as effects, tracks, and renders, or to utilize their own custom plug-in components. And it's open source under Sun's Community Source Licensing (SCSL), a model which gives source code away to anyone for free, but that can require remuneration on a "specific to a particular technology" basis for commercial use of a product derived from that open source.

JMF 2.1.1 is part of a larger family of optional Java API packages called Java Media, which includes 2D, 3D, sound, and advanced imaging options.

Java Web Start

After Microsoft froze the version of Java used in its Internet Explorer browser a few years ago (at 1.1), client side Java was viewed by many people as a dead-end technology. Java 2 didn't even make it to Netscape Communicator. Since then, Java has thrived as a tool for server-side applications for the Web and the enterprise, practically eclipsing all other backend development technologies. By contrast, client side Java's proliferation has been limited strictly to private deployments where the versions of the Java client and application could be tightly controlled by IT departments and the like.

Until Java Web Start, Java has had applets — mandatory browser-embedded programs and applications — which could not be bound to a browser. But the real meat of the release is its built-in application management. When a Java Web Start application launches, Java Web Start technology queries the Web to see if the proper version of Java is running and if the latest version of the application has already been downloaded. Whatever is needed is downloaded and installed automatically before the Java Web Start application runs.

With a leading role in the Internet Streaming Media Alliance (ISMA), Sun is looking to MPEG-4 as an important way to drive up awareness and use of Java as a true streaming platform.