Sean Owen of Google left a comment on my blog about ZXing‘s availability:
We are open for business! I invite everyone to take a look at what we’ve got so far: http://code.google.com/p/zxing/
Neat, an open-source Java implementation for decoding visual tags such as UPC and QR Codes barcodes…
From the Google website:
ZXing (pronounced “zebra crossing”) is an open-source, multi-format 1D/2D barcode reader library implemented in Java. Our goal is to support decoding of QR Codes, Data Matrix, and the UPC family of 1D barcodes. It will provide clients for J2ME, J2SE, and Android.
Why? There are several great readers out there, and there are bits of open-source code already for decoding, but not both at the same time. We want everyone to have access to some great source code to play with, so we decided we’d try an experiment, and open up our in-progress effort. Maybe some of it will be useful to you — maybe you can help improve it.
“Version 0.1.” Everything that’s there, works, even if it could be improved. But not everything that we want to include is there, not by a long shot. We figured it best to release ZXing early while still in development.
Currently working:
1. UPC support
2. QR Code supportSome key features are still to-be-implemented:
1. Data Matrix decoding
2. Support for advanced JSRs
I’m planning on looking into this and if it makes sense participate…
ceo
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We complied and installed the Java ME app on a SE W850 and a Nokia N95 and we were a bit disappointed. There is certainly great potential here but the application was in a very basic state and refused to recognise any QR codes on our computer monitors. We didn’t have any printed versions to do a offline test. Never-the-less…. I am happy Google are doing this!
Thanks for the info Jason. Yes, the project is infant… but it is good to see this open-project cooking… and Google (and hopefully others) behind it. I (and a developer of mine at eZee) will be spending time looking into this, not right now, but shortly…
ceo
This is a repeat. Google needs to think out side the box.
If Google thought this out, why wouldn’t they want to control revenue from both a direct and indirect system?
Why not offer the brands, their customers, the option of both worlds? Why? Brands could change their offering without changing the code on their product.
Why not offer a mobile reader that lets the consumer click on multiple types of codes and other things.
IMO, the NeoReader offers the end to end solution for consumers.
Google needs to take another look at mobile interaction. Why? There are more than just codes to click on. What happens when I walk down the street and there are no codes to click on? What if I say the restaurant name into the browser? What about RFID? What about keywords, logos, trademarks?
If Google wants to offer the best, end to end for the consumer, they need to offer direct and indirect solutions for their customers and the ability to click on multiple types of symbologies, and keywords, logos, trademarks, RFID, from the mobile device.
IMO, they are a smart group, they need to think about what they want to offer their customers and what they can do for the end user. Anything less would be worthless to the consumer.
I think they ARE thinking out side of the box… they (at least some) understand the power of this physical to virtual connections and are using their 20% “free time” to put a stake on the ground, and show leadership/vision w.r.t. what is coming/the potential related to that.
Because of the Android connection, the project is open source.
About the branding, that is the least of their concerns — their brand is strong, and the barcodes, visual (i.e. UPC, 2D, DataMatrix) or radio (i.e. NFC, RFID) are just application interaction triggers to their own Google-branded content.
ceo