Why bother with a RTOS? Does JAVA in the below devices need a RTOS?
McNealy Shows Off Java Ring
(08/28/97; 4:30 p.m. EDT)
By Steven Burke, Computer Reseller News
BURLINGTON, Mass. -- Sun Microsystems chief executive Scott McNealy showed off a Java "smart ring" that can automatically open doors, start a car, or call up a Web page.
McNealy said the ring was made by Minneapolis-based Josten, with a Java chip from Dallas Semiconductor embedded in it.
"The ring costs like $60, and the chip is like a buck," said McNealy, who attended the groundbreaking of Sun's new East Coast facility in Burlington, Mass., Thursday.
"You can reach for your car door and open it; put it on the steering wheel and your car will start."
McNealy said the ring can transmit and receive signals from up to 10 inches away. The ring is no "different than a Java smart card," McNealy said. "It can do whatever a smart card can do running Java applications."
McNealy, wearing a sport coat and denim shirt bearing the slogan, "In a world without fences, who needs Gates?" joked that the Microsoft ring "opens Windows, not doors."
He added that companies such as Nokia, Alcatel, Samsung, and Nortel are building a wide variety of Java devices, including phones and handheld computers.
"Windows is the alternative to Java on the network client," McNealy said. "It is really Sparc-Solaris-Java against Intel-Microsoft. We scale from ring to supercomputer -- no viruses, no memory leaks, no porting, write once, run everywhere, and zero administration. |
