Black Pepper Software Limited

With Oracle's acuisition of Sun now complete, many companies are revisiting existing Java-based applications to consider the impact of this merger on their investment in this technology. Although Oracle's plans for the language and underlying platform remain unclear, now is definitely the right time to examine Java-based applications and consider breathing new life into what may become "legacy applications".

Java emerged during the operating system wars of the early 1990's as a portable (i.e. platform independent) method of developing software applications. “Write once, Run anywhere” claimed the original marketing campaign from Sun Microsystems, suggesting the ability of the Java language to be compiled into bytecode that would run on any Java Virtual Machine would revolutionise the way software was developed forever.

A few things happened on the way: the Web provided a different form of platform independence, and Java found a nascent use within the browser that remains today; and Java became a weapon of choice for server-side development, accelerated by IBM's selection of Java as a strategic platform for mainframes, servers and hand-held devices.

So in the 20 years since James Gosling began developing the Java language at Sun, and the 15 years since the commercial release of the first Java Development Kit, a vast plethora of applications, many business and mission critical, have been created around the world. Large amounts of business logic and competitive advantage are wrapped in the classes and frameworks of applications in the Banking, Travel, Automotive and Publishing sectors – to name but a few.

But the world's changed again – now the drive is for a different breed of applications, promoting collaboration and communities, using a mash-up of data sources and functionality in a Web 2.0 architecture built on Rails, Groovy, Flex, GWT and a range of new content-rich user interfaces.

And what becomes of your old Java applications? Do they get discarded and consigned to the Legacy bucket? All the thousands of man days invested in creating once cutting edge technologies containing all the business logic needed to make your company successful must be salvageable, surely?

This is where Black Pepper can help.