The long-running patents battle between Google and Oracle, centering on Java IPR, largely arose from Google’s determination to control its own platforms even within an open environment. One of the key elements of Android where it went its own way was in the Java virtual machine, hence the spat with Java owner Oracle. But now it is looking to replace that JVM, Dalvik, with a new runtime environment, called ART (Android Runtime).
ART is already available for testing on Android 4.4 and Google is inviting developer feedback though it remains in experimental mode for now. It handles app execution in a completely different way from Dalvik, because it pre-compiles bytecode into machine language when applications are first installed, effectively turning them into truly native software (this process is called ahead-of-time compilation). It removes the need to spin a new VM or run interpreted code, speeding start-up and execution. By contrast, Dalvik used a just-in-time compiler which completed compilation on the user’s device each time an app ran, which involved considerable overhead.
The change to ART will also protect Google from further Oracle assaults, although the search giant was largely cleared of infringement by the courts in 2012 (but the work on ART started almost a year before that, so was probably initiated as a fallback option should the lawsuit go against Google).
Another big issue is whether Google will soon integrate Android’s runtime environments with Chrome’s, allowing the web-based notebooks to run Android apps rather than operating entirely online in the Chrome browser/OS. Despite the rise in cloud-based apps and streamed content, users cling stubbornly to at least an element of local apps and content, especially when connections are not always reliable. Although the two platforms remain separate for now, they are sharing more and more features in common and both now come under the same director.
An Android option would give them the best of both worlds, allow them to run their Android products on all their devices, and justify the price of the Chromebook Pixel, which at $1,300 equates to four or five old generation Chromebooks from Samsung or Acer, or several tablets, and is even more than a Macbook Air.