From the ‘don’t get Lost on the Fringe‘ files:
Getting developers excited about new technology can sometimes be an interesting process. Sun (soon to be Oracle) is trying out a new viral marketing effort to get developers interested in its JavaFX technology, with something called PIE Theory.
Basically what they’re doing is trying to tap into SciFi/paranormal culture to generate interest. Think X-Files but for Java code.
P.I.E is an acronym for Paranormal Investigations Experts, which is basically two dudes, Baron Hector. They’ve got this idea called JUMP theory, which theorizes that all major scientific breakthroughs come from ‘other’ sources (extra-terrestrials maybe?). No it’s not quite Stargate’s Daniel Jackson, and it’s not quite Mulder either, but the cliches are the same.
By tracking the clues, users are supposed to figure out this next jump — which is JavaFX related.
There is a JavaFX site, YouTube videos, a Twitter hash tag (#PIE314)and other social networking connections as part of this effort. It’s an interesting idea and certainly one that I haven’t seen before.
That said, digging into PIE Theory myself, I did find at least one conspiracy that I’m not sure Sun intended.
When you join PIE Theory you’re sent to a welcome screen to download a recruit kit. The only problem (for me at least) is that the kit is only available (as far as I could find today) for Windows and Macs.
That’s right OpenSolaris and Linux developers, no recruit kit for you (at least today). Here’s my own screenshot (taken today) of this new ‘conspiracy’.
