Pedro Eloy sent us a note to notify us about the availability (and there is even a free evaluation downloadable version) of the SavageXE operating system for handhelds or IAs, written mainly in Java. More information about the OS here.
Java OS for IAs or HandHelds
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Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
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Has anyone tried this OS? It looks pretty cool, but I don’t own a Series7 or an Ipaq, so I can’t try it out.
i would like to see a java os for the PC as it would be able to be easy to set up on different computers and it would have the advantage of many good points…
exept for Speed…
java good for small time servers and a wide area of progs and games… But it would never be a major system…
though if one were made i would use it !?!
If the OS was Java wouldn’t that speed up the execution of java apps since the JVM is bypassed? Savage says that their implementation is FAST for this very reason…
Java is rather slow because it is basically a whole computer emulated in memory. This leads to certain decreases in speed. Savaje is fast because it implements the java programming language as its native API. This really just implements the Virtual Machine at the OS level instead of the application level, thus instead of the VM’s native java libraries ( the part of java written in the standard low level language of a given OS IE: C or C++ for most PCs ) the VM can be inplemented in the assembly language, cutting out a lot of translation steps etc. What will hopefully happen in the future is Sun or someone will release a hardware Java accelerator that runs java native on hardware. Much like Floating point processors for 486’s or the 3D accelerators of today it will run Java byte code in hardware, and then Java will be good for OS’s Games, and all sorts of high end goodies
— Dan
I first heard about savaJe technologies in January when they were a recent Lucent Technology spin off and asked me if I would be interested in taking a position within their newly formed company. Basically their idea was to design an optimised Java OS to run only Java on the StrongARM architecture.
Their OS was called “Jscream” back then instead of “SavaJe XE” I believe.
Well I had numerous conversations with Francis Charig (Founder, Chairman and CEO of the Tao Group http://www.tao-group.com) afterwards regarding processor independent technologies. And it appears that the Savaje`s approach isn`t fitting within the plans of most huge consumer electronic companies because of the reason that their JVM isn`t portable across different platforms itself.
With Tao`s solution the whole JVM is identical across any platform because it is entirely written in Virtual Processor code. As a demonstration of the devotion to their solution by some huge companies you should note that in these difficault times (when it is extremly hard to get investments) Tao just received an additional 18 Million investment from companies like Bowman Capital Partners, NEC, Sharp & Sony.
Tao works with well over a hunderd other big (mainly Japanese) consumer electronics companies.
A couple of quick clarifications to this thread.
SavaJe was founded 2 years ago as a spin-off from Lucent’s Inferno OS team. Betas of SavaJe XE have been available since June from http://www.savaje.com, and the 1.0 release is scheduled for the second half of October.
SavaJe offers a full J2SE (Standard Edition) compliant platform for information appliances that runs J2SE/PersonalJava/J2MECDC applications. It runs applications with typically 5x-15x higher performance than a JVM ported onto an existing OS, and supports all J2SE APIs, including Swing, J2SE security, etc. The platform is being evaluated by major consumer and enterprise companies because it solves the problem of poor Java performance in high end applications on these devices. SavaJe XE 1.0, initially available for the Compaq IPAQ PDA, will come bundled with full secure web browser, PIM, POP3/IMAP4 email client, Music player, Picture viewer and Games, and full networking support including modem, ethernet, wireless modem, and 802.11 wireless LAN. Expect to see adoption by enterprises who want to deploy full Java applications on wireless devices, and device manufacturers who expect to see Java widely deployed over the next few years as the standard platform for distribution of web services and applications to mobile devices.
SavaJe is strongly-backed by major investors including Lucent and Ridgewood Capital, and will make further announcements later in the year.
George Grey, CEO, SavaJe Technologies