In the Oracle vs. Google copyright and patent trial, the search engine giant is doing the only thing it can do: maintain its innocence. Google CEO Larry Page got grilled in a San Francisco courtroom on Wednesday and didn't budge an inch.

There is plenty at stake for Google if it loses, namely $1 billion and an ongoing royalty to Oracle to use the Android operating system. Android powers more than 300 million tablets and smartphones and Google has banked on the technology to help drive its mobile strategy forward.

While Oracle and Google duke it out in court, industry watchers are looking at the value of Java and why Oracle is pushing so hard to defend it. Oracle acquired the Java programming language when it bought Sun in 2010.

Java's Developer Advantage

We asked Scott Sellers, CEO of Silicon Valley-based Azul Systems -- the only company outside Oracle to optimize Java for the enterprise -- his take on the potential impacts the Oracle vs. Google suit could have on Java.

"Even though Apple does not use Java, a substantial if not the majority of cell phones use Java or Java-like languages, from BlackBerry to Android to Nokia's platform," Sellers told us. "Java is significant in mobile because it enables rapid development of applications across the world's broadest set of developers."

Sellers asked a pointed question: Why wouldn't a cell-phone manufacturer want to base their platform on the world's most popular and widely developed language? Since Java is the most secure and robust development environment, he said, developers and operators take comfort in knowing their mobile Java applications will have an exceptional end-user experience.

Google's Java-Like Mindset

Any time a new platform like Android is launched, the key attribute of success is whether enough developers will support the platform to drive "killer apps." Without killer apps, the platform...

2012-04-19 06:51:43