Ironically, after preaching about anti-fragmentation agreements and partnership synergy - intended to ensure that no member of the OHA alters the Android platform to an extent where development becomes only partly compatible - it could be down to the Google-led system that Java suffers serious fractures.  Sun engineers are reportedly concerned that the specially modified form of Java that Android uses, as opposed to an off-the-shelf version that cellphones might normally adopt, could lead to a schism of developers creating software for one form of the language or another, spoiling the company’s “write once, run anywhere” selling-point.

At the Oracle OpenWorld conference in San Francisco, Sun EVP Rich Green outlined the company’s fears and “reached out” to Google in the hope that, like feuding parents, they could come together “in the best interests of the developer.”  Google are yet to respond, but if the Android platform goes ahead without modification there could be - in cases where software authors use Java functionality beyond the common basics - growing incompatibility that might marginalise one or both company’s efforts.