Sun breathes on Java logo and creates new Java portals

 

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By Alun Williams

Posted on 11 Jun 2003 at 11:30

Sun has used the JavaOne conference in San Francisco to launch a new design for its Java logo and also launched two new Web sites to promote Java: Java.net and Java.com.

After eight years of sterling service, Sun has updated its familiar Java logo. The essential design - a blue coffee cup with red Java legend - remains unchanged. It's a fresher look, as designers may say.

'As Java's popularity has grown so has the opportunity to have it appear in form factors from billboards to miniature phone displays,' said Ingrid Van Den Hoogen, senior director of Java and Strategic Marketing for Software at Sun Microsystems. 'While the essence of the new look is Java, it's cleaner and simpler, making it more recognizable in everything from smartcards and printers to phones.'

Although easily forgotten now, Sun faced a battle in the early days establishing the identity of the platform-neutral Java programming language - amid the completion of other multi-purpose languages, let alone the existence of JavaScript and JScript. The coffee cup imprint played no small part in establishing the Java Brand.

You can compare and contrast the designs yourself, in the picture above. The new one is on the right, by the way.

As for the new Web sites, Java.com is intended to promote the range of consumer products and companies using Java technologies. The idea is that people can browse mobile and desktop applications and download the necessary environments. It includes games.

Java.net is intended to bring some order to the soup of Java developer-related suites. It's a portal for the estimated three million Java developers worldwide and provides collaboration tools for delivering Java applications. While sponsored by Sun, its infrastructure is provided by CollabNet and O'Reilly & Associates and it will feature open-source projects. The idea is to help boost end-user awareness and demand.

Existing open source initiatives such as Project JXTA, Jini, and NetBeans will be part of java.net.