The MUSIC project, has announced the interim release of the MUSIC platform (v 0.3.0), which is for use in the development of mobile application software and services.

The goal of the MUSIC project is to supply a language tool and middleware environment to make it feasible to develop next generation mobile applications and services, which adapt automatically and seamlessly to the ever-changing context typically facing mobile users.

The MUSIC middleware  can be applied for the development of adaptive applications for any type of target devices such as PCs, Laptops or mobile phones, which support at least Java 1.4 and must have OSGi available at run-time. The target device can be from different manufacturers using any underlying operating system (Windows Mobile, Symbian, Linux/Palm, BlackBerry, Mac OS X), which provide a Virtual Machine (VM) for Java 1.3. The application is running in one VM with MUSIC and has therefore to obey the restrictions of the VM version.

The MUSIC middleware could be interesting to users from different perspectives. For example Software developers might be able to reach higher levels of productivity in the development of self-adapting software by adopting MUSIC methods and tools. Or, communication infrastructure operators might have a better means for optimizing the use and availability of their resources, and service providers (both public and commercial) might be able to reach and satisfy their users better to see an increased market for their products.

MUSIC (Mobile Users In Ubiquitous Computing Environments) is an Integrated Project funded by the Information Society Technologies priority of the EU's Sixth Framework Programme (www.ist-music.eu). It is made up of an international consortium of organisations including SINTEF (Norway),  Appear (Sweden), Condat AG and the European Media Laboratory GmbH (both of Germany), Hewlett Packard Innovation Center and Telecom Italia Lab (both of Italy), IntegraSys SA and Telefónica I+D (both of Spain), RATP (France), and Ireland's own SID2U.

In addition, the consortium includes Researchers of the University of Cyprus, University of Kassel (Germany), University of Leuven (Belgium) and the University of Oslo (Norway).

Svein Hallsteinsen, Technical Leader for the MUSIC project who works for consortium member SINTEF, the largest independent R&D organisation in the Nordic countries, employing approximately 2000 employees, who are also project leaders, said, "The stronger requirements for the development environment will not cause a problem, because the developer is usually furnished with a standard PC, which easily fulfils all needs."

He continued, "MUSIC uses Eclipse, Maven and SVN, which need at least Java 1.5, but we recommend Java 1.6. MUSIC applies the LGPL1 (GNU Lesser General Public License) licence, which does not apply their restrictions to the resulting software, so that it can be exploited nder any chosen form".

The final release of the MUSIC platform is expected in Q2 2010.