Java 2 Platform, Micro Edition (J2ME) is by far the most advanced and successful mobile application platform available today. However, with mobile commerce growing into a multibillion-dollar industry, serious competition is on the horizon from Microsoft. Microsoft's latest mobile commerce offering is the .Net Compact Framework (.Net CF). What exactly is .Net CF? How does it measure up to J2ME? As Java developers, what can we learn from it to better compete? In this two-part series, Michael Juntao Yuan presents an objective and comprehensive comparison between the two platforms.
If you work in a predominantly Microsoft shop, the .Net CF and Visual Studio .Net tools will definitely help you port enterprise applications to mobile devices. .Net CF leverages the large community of existing Windows developers and helps companies lower development costs. However, if you are in a heterogeneous environment or need a real pervasive solution that works on low-end devices, J2ME is the hands-down winner. In the enterprise world, important J2ME vendors opt for service gateway-based application paradigms, while .Net CF is still too young for any significant third-party mobile middleware to emerge. (3,900 words; February 21, 2002)
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