Oh, let’s continue with my conversation/diatribe from last week, shall we? When last we checked, I was venting about how Oracle’s field of use restrictions were keeping Google TV — which might finally bring Java television, a longtime dream of Sun, to the masses — from being officially certified as Java. Of course, as an anonymous commentor reminds us, it isn’t just sheer pig-headedness behind this move; it’s all about dollars and cents (slightly edited):Unlike the Java SE JVM/JRE, which, according to its license, can be installed on “every computer” freely, the Java ME JVM/JRE installation requires a license that can only be bought from Oracle (previously Sun). That means that in the cost of every cellular phone there’s a tiny amount of royalties to SnOracle. Not categorizing TVs as computers is a purely business decision — since if they do, they’ll lose that market forever (since Java SE is free to install on “computers”).This is absolutely true, and is the dilemma that Oracle finds itself in! It is very difficult for any company — especially one as revenue-conscious as Oracle — to just give away revenue like this. But unfortunately, the three-way division of Java into mobile/embedded, PC, and enterprise markets was dictated more than a decade ago — a huge span of time, in tech terms — and the sorts of use cases that were thought of as Java ME turf can now support processing power good enough for a Java SE implementation. Who would have imagined that in 2010 there would be cell phones more powerful than most PCs available in the late ’90s, when Java ME first emerged? Well, anyone who paid any attention at all, actually, but never mind that for the moment. Adding to the irony is the fact that Java SE is seeing less and less use on PCs, its intended target. Larry Seltzer at PC Magazine managed to go Java-free on his PC for a month without significant ill effects. Yes, I’m sure there are plenty of niche cases where Java is important for end users, and you can no doubt dig up some Java SE apps that some folks can’t live without, but I agree with Seltzer’s assessment that Java SE has largely been a flop.That’s why I call Harmony — which is the Apache Software Foundation’s uncertified Java SE implementation, and which is the basis for Android — the only Java SE implementation that matters. It’s the only implementation that’s carving out new space for itself and seeing widespread and enthusiastic adoption. Unfortunately for Oracle, that adoption is coming in spaces that were supposed to be set aside for paid implementations of Java ME. Technology Industry