By William Fellows
The collection of Java dissidents working on real-time extensions to the language expect to announce within 30 days that NCITS (pronounced insights), the US National Committee for Information Technology Standards organization will sponsor its specifications. As NCITS standards usually end up being adopted as de jure ISO standards, the self-styled Real-Time Java Working Group group, which includes Hewlett-Packard Co, Microsoft Corp and other vendors, is hoping to make an end-run around Sun Microsystems Inc, which is now trying to head off the threat to its control of Java standards by creating its own real-time Java API development under IBM Corp’s leadership and by changing the way it licenses Java to make it more attractive to developers. The irony is that the group is using a set of real-time requirements also developed by Sun as part of a NIST National Institute of Standards and Technology project, as its starting point. The group also considered IEEE and The Open Group as possible sponsors for its work.
