And when you have an open system where you expand the functionality of the system during its lifetime, standardization becomes key. In the past, Bertholdt explained, system software in embedded spaces was often tuned to the capabilities of one particular device. Bertholdt emphasized that Java technology is an open standard. The Need for Common Standards Panelist Jon Hoskin, chief technology officer for Insignia Solutions and a member of the Micro Edition Executive Committee of the JCP 2.0, emphasized the value of Java technology. Writing software and building hardware for embedded systems is definitely not easy.
Embedded systems are far more diverse than devices on the desktop and service sides.
Hoskin pointed out that not only is there now a greater diversity of operating systems and CPU architectures in use, but the physical characteristics of the devices vary enormously. Then the display itself will vary widely in both size and color depth. And if you are trying to write graphical software, there are dozens of graphics packages you might have to support. Therefore, Hoskin emphasized, common standards and abstractions for embedded systems developers and manufacturers are essential. Standards make sense from everyone's point of view.