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Lutris Closes Enhydra Source

Ron van Balen writes: "Lutris has retracted the open source Entreprise Enhydra product. The old version will remain open source, but the open source community will not get access to the new J2EE compliant product. The decision was made because Sun J2EE license requirements don't allow an open source release, Lutris says. Lutris also says it wil refocus its efforts to its commercial products and support the open source community at a lower priority. It seems there is one less commercially supported OSS project on the planet." Newsforge has an excellent piece on this as well which gets into the reasoning and details on this move.

180 comments

  1. Open Source migrating to loss of control by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's nice to know that the Open Source movement may lead one's company to lose control of its source code rights. Darn, and we spent 10 million dollars developing that software system.

  2. Direct complaints to the right place by dkh2 · · Score: 2

    As indicated above, the reason for the closing of source is the J2EE license from Sun. All complaints should be addressed to Sun Microsystems.

    --
    My office has been taken over by iPod people.
  3. Blame Sun by Ars-Fartsica · · Score: 2
    Sun refuses to open Java. No, the JCP is not open. Why at this stage Sun does not open up Java is beyond me. With Microsoft out of the Java community, I don't see ravenous, hostile competitors chomping at the bit to deform Java and destabilize Sun.

    They're only hurting themselves and developers with their idiotically stubborn unwillingness to get with the program.

    1. Re:Blame Sun by youreanidiot · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      They're only hurting themselves and developers with their idiotically stubborn unwillingness to get with the program.

      Not to mention Java is a slow piece of cow shit that runs like a whore on the only OS that matters... so who cares.

    2. Re:Blame Sun by cnkeller · · Score: 2
      They're only hurting themselves and developers with their idiotically stubborn unwillingness to get with the program.

      huh? Java has never been more popular. How exactly is sun hurting themselves by not making it open? Java is hurt far more by it's lack of performance and general bloat than by it's closed nature. You might be able to argue that the open source community could/would help increase the speed of the language, add features, fix bugs, etc, but I hardly think Sun is being hurt by not opening it. Let's face it, along with most Microsoft products, if you have to use Java, then you have to use Java. Generally you don't have the luxury of choosing another language/product based on it's open source nature; however, dammit, I am using Postgres and Linux!!!!

      --

      there are no stupid questions, but there are a lot of inquisitive idiots

    3. Re:Blame Sun by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Get with which program? The failurific nature of open source in any business related area? Yeah, I can't imagine where the hangup is.

      Why don't you ask someone around you how business works, because I'm sick of repeating it.

    4. Re:Blame Sun by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How is Sun making money from Java now??

    5. Re:Blame Sun by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If absolutely nothing else, brand recognition. If, God freaking help us all, Java ever becomes the defacto standard, it would sure be nice to be known as the ones who got the ball rolling.

    6. Re:Blame Sun by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What the hell are you talking about? Java runs well on all my Solaris machines. It runs very well on Windows. So that covers desktops and servers; just because good developers don't care about your OS doesn't mean they don't care about Java.

    7. Re:Blame Sun by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Dot Net will kill Java for sure. It will take a few years before Microsoft's product will overcome the established platform, J2EE, but it will happen. Why? Microsoft's software will cost less and it will be included (to some degree) in every copy of Windows, even the cheapie consumer edition. True, you can download a free version of the Java reference platform, but if you want a serious scalable J2EE platform, companies must spend big bucks. And Java really isn't Open Source or community based no matter how much Sun spins their "Community" license. I don't see an end to Windows as the dominate operating system, so let's face it: if Sun doesn't fix their licensing scheme, Java will be dead.

      Disclaimer: I work for a company producing internet software based on the Java platform.

    8. Re:Blame Sun by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Let me correct that: that should read Free Software not Open Source

    9. Re:Blame Sun by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "good developers"???

      go take a look at the JDK source (even just the Java portions, since it seems likely that you wouldn't understand the rest)...

    10. Re:Blame Sun by drinkypoo · · Score: 1
      Not to mention Java is a slow piece of cow shit that runs like a whore on the only OS that matters... so who cares.

      Yeah, Java does run pretty damn slow on my HP-48.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  4. Sad to see by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    and what about the people who submitted patches to the product? fuck them?

    1. Re:Sad to see by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Those people knew they were using the GPL; they might as well have hung a sign on their back saying "Kick me." The GPL is an enemy of programmers everywhere, and I don't feel sorry for these people if they never heeded the warnings. At least now they'll know better.

    2. Re:Sad to see by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Can you name even one person outside Lutris who submitted code? (bearing in mind this is Enhydra *Enterprise* we're talking about, not Enhydra). Some Lutris employees used non-Lutris addresses on enhydra.org to try to "seed" some sense of a community, but I don't know of a single line of code written by anyone else that was contributed to Enhydra Enterprise.

    3. Re:Sad to see by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There is not and never has been any GPL code in Enhydra (Enterprise or otherwise) - are you in the wrong discussion?

    4. Re:Sad to see by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There's never a wrong time for pointing out the evils of the GPL! :)

    5. Re:Sad to see by ionutz · · Score: 1

      sadly, I think no one from outside Lutris ever contributed any code to the enhydra enterprise project.

    6. Re:Sad to see by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think Lutris actually gently discouraged code-submitters all along on this project - no committers from outside Lutris, you'll note - and one reason was because the license issue was always up in the air. But it looks like the EnyhdraEnterprise and Enhydra.Org workig group email lists did provide a lot of useful test feedback, problem reports and good ideas.

  5. Java is dead anyway by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    With Microsoft's new .NET tech.. Java is as good as dead anyway.

    1. Re:Java is dead anyway by bergeron76 · · Score: 1

      No way. Java is more prevalent than it has been ever before; cell phones, pagers and now cars rely on it more than ever. Java isn't going anywhere, you silly troll.

      --
      Don't think that a small group of dedicated individuals can't change the world. It's the only thing that ever has.
    2. Re:Java is dead anyway by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I thought my car felt slower lately. It's the Java! Thanks, Crap Language Zealot, for showing me the truth.

    3. Re:Java is dead anyway by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Right your car is slower because of Java.... I guess ignorance IS everywhere.

    4. Re:Java is dead anyway by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      its dead as a doornail...the coffin is in the ground.

    5. Re:Java is dead anyway by youreanidiot · · Score: 1

      Hehe, if my car ran Java.. I'd buy a new car. I need to get to work eventually.

  6. Re:Yes, I would agree. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    Wag the dog?

    I concur. Osama is a scapegoat. He and the international terrorism threat are just excuses for the efforts to finalise the New World Order regime that GWB's father talked about.

    Just watch your rights disappear...

  7. Free Java implementations? by reynaert · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I know about Kaffe, but I just checked www.kaffe.org and it hasn't been updated for over a year. Why has it died? Legal reasons? Lack of interest?

    Japhar is another implementation, but it is in a very early stage (current version 0.10).

    Do other implementations exist?

    1. Re:Free Java implementations? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Could it be that Java is a dead-end?

      Slow, bloated and hideous...

    2. Re:Free Java implementations? by jockm · · Score: 1

      Kaffe isn't dead, it continues to be maintained and extended as part of PocketLinux. Unfortunately the kaffe.org sote fails to mention this.

      --

      What do you know I wrote a novel
    3. Re:Free Java implementations? by Delirium+Tremens · · Score: 2

      Kaffe is jdk 1.1 implementation. Sun added a lot of stuf in jdk 1.2, 1.3 and now 1.4. It will take a very long while for any body to catch up.

      The only other choice out there is IBM's implementation, called Cross Platform Toolkit. But even them are licensing some core classes from Sun.

    4. Re:Free Java implementations? by anshil · · Score: 2

      No,

      java itself may not be the hype of the future, but the related technology will, in one form or the other. Strong object orientation and a VM for userspace applications

      --

      --
      Karma 50, and all I got was this lousy T-Shirt.
    5. Re:Free Java implementations? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, and it's called .NET. So long, Sun. SUNW stock is below $10/share now, and the company will be lucky if they ever see a profitable quarter again. Toodles.

    6. Re:Free Java implementations? by Tim+Macinta · · Score: 2
      I know about Kaffe, but I just checked www.kaffe.org and it hasn't been updated for over a year. Why has it died?

      Perhaps it has something to do with Microsoft's "investment" two years ago in the company that made Kaffe. That certainly wouldn't be the first time that a company with non-Windows products mysteriously stagnated after a cash infusion by Microsoft.

    7. Re:Free Java implementations? by jockm · · Score: 1

      More accurately Kaffe is a PersonalJava 1.1 implementation. They have added much of the 1.2 and above changes that also appear in PersonalJava 2 and 3

      --

      What do you know I wrote a novel
    8. Re:Free Java implementations? by jockm · · Score: 1

      To quote from my other post in this thread:

      Kaffe isn't dead, it continues to be maintained and extended as part of PocketLinux. Unfortunately the kaffe.org sote fails to mention this.

      --

      What do you know I wrote a novel
    9. Re:Free Java implementations? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maybe but this is certainly nothing new...
      versions of smalltalk have been using this for years now.

  8. Open Source people got screwed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    Yeah, looks like that.

    Never trust a corporation. Steal from them instead. Pirate at will!

  9. Non J2EE App Servers legal? by djweis · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Are there different licenses for projects like Tomcat? Can you deploy them legally?

    1. Re:Non J2EE App Servers legal? by Delirium+Tremens · · Score: 2

      Tomcat uses an Apache license. Yes you can deploy them legally. You can even download the source code, modify it and redeploy it.

    2. Re:Non J2EE App Servers legal? by istvandragosani · · Score: 1

      I don't think Tomcat counts, because it is just a servlet engine, and does not rely on any bundled Sun products to run, other than the runtime environment.

      --
      Go not to the Elves for counsel, for they will say both no and yes
    3. Re:Non J2EE App Servers legal? by greenrd · · Score: 2
      j2EE is just a spec and a trademark. You don't have to agree to Sun's license if you don't claim to be J2EE compliant.

  10. What is the future of the JBOSS project now? by cowmix · · Score: 1

    If what Lutris is saying is true, will the JBOSS project be able to continue? They are shipping an open source J2EE project now..

    1. Re:What is the future of the JBOSS project now? by drodver · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I think the issue is they can't get the nice logo's on the box by going Open Source with the current J2EE license.

      Don't care about being recognized by Sun? => Problem solved!

    2. Re:What is the future of the JBOSS project now? by kbigelow · · Score: 1

      JBOSS has not licensed the J2EE from Sun. JBOSS implements the J2EE, which requires a license from Sun. Sun certainly has the right to issue a cease and desist order to JBOSS should they so choose. keith

  11. Re:Yes, I would agree. by youreanidiot · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Osama Bin Laden is probably a figment of the CIA's imagination. That much is probably true.

    Yes, I don't know that he is totally unreal, but he is probably not behind any of this.

  12. XMLC is the core of Enhydra by bzhou · · Score: 1

    For lots of projects, XMLC is good enough. Let's keep using the open source part, and avoid J2EE when we don't have to. This is the kind of message we need to give back to Sun.

    1. Re:XMLC is the core of Enhydra by codealot · · Score: 1

      Absolutely correct. Sun is touting J2EE as the solution for everything. In fact it is vast overkill for the majority of web applications.

      In fact I have yet to find the "killer application" for EJB.

  13. Why not provided two versions ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0


    Provide one version which is dubbed ASEE (Application Server for Enteprise Edition). The other (commercial) dubbed J2EE compliant.

    They would share the same source code, but have different licenses. Sun can't complain because they would not be dubbing it J2EE, but more of a behaves like J2EE, looks like J2EE but is not certified J2EE. A bit like Mesa did with OpenGL.

    Mesa; it looks like, smells like and acts like OpenGL, but it ain't OpenGL (you need a license that says you passed the test to say you are OpenGL).

    1. Re:Why not provided two versions ? by Delirium+Tremens · · Score: 1

      The risk is too high that somebody like Microsoft with a huge blind user base will jump on that one and ship an implementation that behaves differently than the reference one from Sun. This would split and kill Java right away.

  14. Re:Oh really? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Then don't send in the Navy SEALs. These poor guys have never tackled with real terrorists, so why don't you cust call SAS and let the pros handle the threat?

    I concur. Ever since Charlie Sheen, the Navy SEALs have been the laughing stock of the world. They would just get their asses shot off over there.

  15. Uh, this is OLD NEWS- and the title's misleading! by Svartalf · · Score: 4, Informative

    This tidbit ran sometime last week on LinuxToday- and the title they're closing the source to Enhydra's misleading; it's Enterprise Enhydra that they're closing the source to, not Enhydra itself.

    --
    I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas
  16. Direct complaints not to SUN by Baki · · Score: 2

    According to the comments at newsforge, complaints should not be addressed to SUN. See these comments.

  17. You're right by reynaert · · Score: 2, Insightful

    If they would just hand over Java to some standards body, it would immediately be promoted from 'Sun technology' to 'Industry Standard'. How they can consider this a bad thing is beyond me.

    Oh, wait. If Java becomes a standard, people won't have to pay Sun anymore to be 'Java compliant'.

    1. Re:You're right by Delirium+Tremens · · Score: 2

      It's all about keeping some malicious organization like Microsoft from forking Java.
      If Sun loses the control over Java, along with all the compability test suites they reenforce, they can not prevent a fork from happening. And it will. Microsoft did it already once with their Java RNI implementation.
      And if Java was made GPL, it will be the worst thing of all, since all new Java objects would extend java.lang.Object and would need to be make GPL as well. No Corporate would accept that one.

    2. Re:You're right by anshil · · Score: 2

      Isn't .net/c# seen in a large scale already a java fork?

      --

      --
      Karma 50, and all I got was this lousy T-Shirt.
    3. Re:You're right by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      calling C#/.net a java fork is like calling IE a netscape fork, or Linux a MSDOS fork.

    4. Re:You're right by Ars-Fartsica · · Score: 2

      If open source leads to forks, where are the forked perls? Forked Pythons? The fork issue is a bogeyman. All the major Java players (Sun, BEA, IBM) have a vested interest in keeping Java versions compatible.

    5. Re:You're right by Dalroth · · Score: 1

      Don't you think the java standard library would be L'GPLed just like EVERY OTHER open source programming language standard library? I mean, come on people! Not everything has to be or will be GPLed!

    6. Re:You're right by kaisyain · · Score: 2

      Forked Pythons?

      You don't consider the stackless Python a fork?

    7. Re:You're right by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There are several different pythons running around.

  18. sad by rassie · · Score: 1

    It's sad that a developers choice of language/tools can make him lose control over his own licensing policy.

    Send your complaints to Sun. We have seen the same with eg. Microsofts Mobile something developers kit, and it is very sad.

  19. open source increasingly under siege ... by MilleniumUcita · · Score: 1

    The policies governing Java technologies never blended well with open source/free software. Given recent events, we should not expect Java to become more open, on the contrary.

    Law enforcement agencies will probably demand closed-source, backdoor-enabled encryption and security subsystems. Open source doesn't lend itself to that.

    What is also a problem, is the fact that free software yields incredible consumer surpluses, but very little in terms of company profits. Since the government needs companies to make profits, so that they can levy taxes, they will not encourage free software.

    The most dangerous assault will, however, come from the copyright cartels. They will not rest until computers fully implement digital rights management in unalterable binary-only distributions, with source code locked up.

    In this light, It will become increasingly difficult to defend the values behind free software.

    1. Re:open source increasingly under siege ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      why do i need to defend OSS, im using it. im going to continue using it. i will not stop using because of some law

    2. Re:open source increasingly under siege ... by MilleniumUcita · · Score: 1

      If you fail to comply, you may very well be treated like a pirate or a terrorist.

    3. Re:open source increasingly under siege ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Most likely the latter, given what Ashcroft said just a moments ago on TV.

      If you want to be safe, there cannot be a stone they can't look under. That means closed source and backdoors.

      Get ready for the New World Order.

    4. Re:open source increasingly under siege ... by mgkimsal2 · · Score: 2

      What is also a problem, is the fact that free software yields incredible consumer surpluses, but very little in terms of company profits. Since the government needs companies to make profits, so that they can levy taxes, they will not encourage free software.

      Damn, this is pretty shortsighted thinking. Does it not seem that companies that have more money can either SPEND IT ON OTHER THINGS BESIDES SOFTWARE LICENSING or PAY THEIR EMPLOYEES MORE or HIRE MORE PEOPLE? Less money on licensing (using more open source stuff) means more money leftover to spend on other things - tangible goods that help manufacturing and distribution companies - companies that hire REAL PEOPLE.

      The government doesn't tax profits (well, yes they do). Primarily, what the government taxes is TRANSACTIONS. Me holding on to 1000 dollars does NO good in terms of taxation. Me SPENDING 1000 dollars in various places incurs a sales tax on every transaction.

      Maybe more companies would make more profits if they didn't SPEND so much on closed source, proprietary software.

      To turn your argument around: Big deal if a few OS companies don't make much profit on their software - if thousands of other companies can realize PROFIT faster because of reduced costs, that means MORE taxes from those profits.

      Again, I don't subscribe to the notion that taxing profits is that big a revenue stream for governments. It's transactions that count.

  20. Re:Oh really? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny
    call SAS

    You mean the Scandinavian Air Lines?

    Well, they're about to go under so perhaps you could convince them to drop a few planes on Osama and claim the insurance instead...

  21. Something Is wrong by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There is something inherently wrong with a tool maker restricting what you can and cant do with your own code... Its YOUR work.. not theirs.. You bought the tool.. should be able to use it..

    I know *I* will boycott them from here on out.

    1. Re:Something Is wrong by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      When you bought and used the tool, you agreed to use it as per their terms. If you don't like it, then develop everything with Perl.

    2. Re:Something Is wrong by elefantstn · · Score: 2
      There is something inherently wrong with a tool maker restricting what you can and cant do with your own code.

      The problem is that Lutris used the Sun reference code to build the J2EE Enhydra server. It would be kind of like Mono releasing a GPL'ed .NET based on Microsoft's reference code submitted to ECMA.


      Sun, on the other hand, has no problem with JBoss, which is a clean-room implementation of the J2EE spec.

      --
      If it ain't broke, you need more software.
    3. Re:Something Is wrong by thomnelson · · Score: 1

      I doubt Lutris is going to use much of the RI code. The RI is pretty worthless except for the fact that it passes all the compatibility tests, so if you have access to the code, you can get pointers on how to pass those tests yourself.

      The problem is that as long as Sun holds on to SCSL, Java and open source are basically incompatible, especially GPL-based projects. The scary thing about JBoss is that at any time Sun feels that they're a threat, they can send out their lawyers and have all references to J2EE specs removed from JBoss docs and code.

      The open source community needs an open source J2EE-like platform which isn't tied to Java. We need to look at the features of J2EE and .NET, figure out the ones that are really useful, and develop our own platform without using Java or specs controlled by Sun or Microsoft.

    4. Re:Something Is wrong by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > The problem is that Lutris used the Sun
      > reference code to build the J2EE Enhydra server.

      No they didn't. There were standing orders in Lutris R&D that no-one was even allowed to look at the RI code.

      The issue, as has been said several times, is the conformance testing. Code which you run against Sun's conformance tests (which you have to pass to call yourself J2EE) thereafter becomes subject to SCSL, which is viral licensing of the worst kind.

    5. Re:Something Is wrong by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "The scary thing about JBoss is that at any time Sun feels that they're a threat, they can send out their lawyers and have all references to J2EE specs removed from JBoss docs and code"

      Actually, if JBoss is careful, they should be OK with using tradenames. There's a long history in this industry of advertising your products as "Foo-compatible (Foo is a registered trademark of FooCo)". You are already prohibited from selling your product as "J2EE certified" or using a logo graphic without paying for the cert testing. Big players like IBM WebSphere haven't been certified and it hasn't hurt their sales.

  22. Why use Enhydra? by elefantstn · · Score: 4, Informative

    I'm not sure why someone looking for a J2EE implementation would go to Enhydra. JBoss is a much better, robust, mature platform for that sort of thing than Enhydra. None of this is to say that Enhydra is worthless - it's very good at what it does, which is a much more lightweight Java web platform than DB + EJB + Servlets + the kitchen sink which is what full J2EE servers are. In fact, most projects would be better off with the lighter-weight Enhydra, especially published-content type projects.


    I guess what I'm trying to get at is Lutris should have kept Enhydra the way it was, and not screwed around with J2EE. We have JBoss for that, and Enhydra filled a much different need. The whole mess could have been avoided.

    --
    If it ain't broke, you need more software.
    1. Re:Why use Enhydra? by Furry+Ice · · Score: 1

      I completely agree that J2EE is a big stinkin' mess, but it's what managers want and are willing to pay big $$ for. WebLogic licenses run over $10k per CPU, and I'm sure Lutris smells some of that cash. Sure, they could continue to sell a superior product, but if it's a product that no one wants to buy, what's the point? You've got to listen to your customers.

    2. Re:Why use Enhydra? by pangloss · · Score: 1

      so how does (or doesn't) this affect jboss. when i first read the original /. article, the first thing i thought was "what a crock" given the jboss model.

    3. Re:Why use Enhydra? by IsleOfView · · Score: 1

      When I played around with Enhydra some time ago, the only really nice thing was the polished, web-based administration console. Hopefully, JBoss will come up with something like that soon.

    4. Re:Why use Enhydra? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "and I'm sure Lutris smells some of that cash"

      Too bad that there's 200 other anonymous middleware companies that are also beating the J2EE drum.

      The J2EE shakedown is coming ... in a couple years, you'll have BEA, IBM, and Sun/iPlanet, another couple big players, and maybe a couple smaller special purpose players. Nobody wants mess of incompatibilities that is the current market.

  23. An Alternative by robbyjo · · Score: 2, Informative

    SourceForge has nice projects: Open Business or Enigma for J2EE business software. It is still far from finish, but at least you can help to make it happen.

    --

    --
    Error 500: Internal sig error
  24. ESR by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    Given the rate VA is losing money, ESR will soon be surprised by all the cock he has to keep on sucking to make a living.

    If he ever made a video of that I might buy it for a dollar.

  25. Re:Yes, I would agree. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yes, but the burning question I want answered is "Does he run Linux?"

    If so he's O.K. by me. Just as long as he's not a lackey of the Corporate New World Order!!! Down with the WTO!!!

  26. economics stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    really it comes down too, economics. If we were not in the shape that we are in, open source would have floushed. Right now business are assuming the worest. They need to find alternative ways of grabbing revenue. Even if that means they have to close the source..Sad but true...

    1. Re:economics stupid by codeforprofit2 · · Score: 1

      Well, I really think the situation now is quite self-inflicted.

      The companies that now sees their stocks go through the floor just DOESN'T MAKE MONEY. And if you don't make money you can't justify that others should by your stocks for lots of $$$. And in the long run you can't pay your salaries and bills.

      Companies needs to make money, it's as simple as that.

      sig: for your daily dose of fanatism visit www.taliban.com, www.hamas.org or www.gnu.org

    2. Re:economics stupid by ahde · · Score: 1

      Stock value does not pay the salaries and bills. You may be working for stock options, but that's a dumb move in the first place. Stock value is only what ownership of the company is worth to anonymous investors. Your stock could be zero point nada and that doesn't affect whether a company can run or not. The problem comes when you open yourself up to anonymous ownership, the investors may decide the material assets are worth more than the business. Stock value is based on two things:

      1) Current earnings, assets, and dividends.
      2) Speculation on future earnings, etc.

      Venture capital and stock offerings are a loan, expected to be paid back with interest. What happened to our economy is that people forgot that. $18 Million VC or IPO -- we're rich! No, that means you're poor. You just sold your business to someone else and the money has to be put back into the business. It's like selling your house and agreeing that all the money has to go into upkeep on the house. If home repair is your trade, that might be a good business plan, but only if you manage your business properly.

  27. Newsforge by Rupert · · Score: 2

    Are there supposed to be stories there? All I get is the fluff around the edges and links to the previous and next stories (which are also empty).

    --

    --
    E_NOSIG
    1. Re:Newsforge by OSgod · · Score: 1

      Actually when I hear Newsforge I think of a forge -- used of old to create iron and steal in the heat of the forge... you get the idea.

      Foregery may have a similar root but the use of Forge here seems pretty strong -- a good name if ever I've seen one.

  28. nobody like open-source commies. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Especially us Arabs!

  29. This one looks like Sun's fault, but InstantDB? by zipwow · · Score: 1

    Does anyone remember the beginnings of InstantDB and the Enhydra project? When I originally picked it up, the buzz (and the statements on their webpages) was that its not Open Source yet, but "it will be Real Soon Now (tm)".

    After embedding it in my application, I needed to make a couple of changes and went to look for the source, and there was no more talk of 'open source' but rather 'Low deployment license fees'.

    Is this somehow related to the J2EE problem (how? its just a SQL db)? Was there another announcement I missed? Or did Lutris excercise their legally allowable but ethically questionable right to say "Its not open source now, we need $$, this is now a product."?

    If its the latter, then it makes one wonder how hard they negotiated with Sun.

    Zipwow

    --
    I don't know which is more depressing, that 2/3 didn't care enough to vote, or that 1/2 of those that did are crazy.
  30. How did the Blackdown project do it? by mvw · · Score: 1
    I am interested in porting the Web Start product to FreeBSD. However the legal requirements are unclear to me.

    I would really love to roll a distribution, like the Blackdown group did with Java3D for Linux, but I don't know how to get the OK from Sun.

    What is required? The present solution I see is leaving the user to sign the Sun's Communite Source License himself, and just offering a source patch set. For application a blessed binary release would be much nicer.

    Again, is anyone from the Blackdown guys here, how could explain what is needed?

    Regards,
    Marc

    1. Re:How did the Blackdown project do it? by Juergen+Kreileder · · Score: 0
      Again, is anyone from the Blackdown guys here, how could explain what is needed?
      We have a special license agreement with Sun. If you want to know about the current state about FreeBSD porting activities please contact one of the developers. (Send me a note if you can't find their addresses.)

      Juergen
      Blackdown Java-Linux

  31. I should mention... by zipwow · · Score: 1

    I replaced my usage of InstantDB with McKoi (http://www.mckoi.com/database) which is GPL'ed.

    Zipwow

    --
    I don't know which is more depressing, that 2/3 didn't care enough to vote, or that 1/2 of those that did are crazy.
  32. Are you insane?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why?! BSD is dying!

  33. Newsforge by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The article summary says Newsforge has some info regarding this issue.

    Are they forging news stories these days?

    "Newsforge" is a piss poor name for a News site. Makes it sound like a forgery operation.

    Who was the bonehead that came up with a name like that?

  34. Sending in the brits? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    Actually, I agree.

    It's time you limeys bleed in the mud/sand/whatever for a change.

    1. Re:Sending in the brits? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually, I agree.
      It's time you limeys bleed in the mud/sand/whatever for a change


      [really offensive mode]
      Actually we brits have been bleeding every time you lot gave contributions to IRA terrorist organisations.

      Nice to see the fact that you seem to have been sponsoring Osama before he decided to turn round and bite the hand that supplied him.

      What goes around, comes around!!
      [/really offensive mode]

    2. Re:Sending in the brits? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm not quite familiar with the situation in the North Ireland, but as far as I know your army is occupying the land. Do you see us doing the same anywhere in the world?

    3. Re:Sending in the brits? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm not quite familiar with the situation in the North Ireland

      No, evidently not.

      but as far as I know your army is occupying the land. Do you see us doing the same anywhere in the world?

      The Bitish army is "occupying" the land in the same sense that the US army occupies parts of the USA.

      If it makes the situation any easier for you to understand, Northern Ireland is part of the UK. Its citizens elect representatives to the UK parliament just like every other part of the UK. The majority of the people (not all) vote for parties which wish to remain part of the UK. Every poll shows that the majority of citizens of Northern Ireland wish to remain part of the UK (and a totally overwhelming majority of course want to stop the terrorist attacks even if they don't want to be part of the UK). I don't believe that anyone, even the IRA disputes that the majority of people in Northern Ireland wish for it to remain part of the UK. The Republic of Ireland certainly understands that the majority of people in Northern Ireland wish it to remain part of the UK and accept it (though they would like this to change i.e. they would like the people of Northern Ireland to wish to join the Republic of Ireland). I do not believe there is any doubt that if the majority of people in Northern Ireland wished for Northern Ireland to leave the UK that this would happen.
      The British army is in no sense a hostile occupying force in Northern Ireland.

    4. Re:Sending in the brits? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The US has troops in Saudi Arabia, propping up a corrupt regime. Bin Laden is a Saudi Arabian and opposes that regime.

  35. Red Herring by chmod+u+s · · Score: 2, Interesting
    Lutris has been leaning commercially for a while. I think the licensing 'issue' is a red herring they've thrown out as an excuse to transition into a closed-source only product. A few months back when I was trying to get the open source version of enhydra, I couldn't find it. They buried it in their enhydra.com website and redirected enhydra.org to it. Everywhere I looked was a 'purchase' button.

    Anyhow, how can JBoss have an open source J2EE implementation ?(which is lightyears better, in my opinion) Maybe becasue they don't have so many suits trying to put a spin on the product in order to get it to sell.

    It really seems like Lutris is just trying to transition back to the closed source model because they can't sell an inferior, late J2EE application server when you can see what is 'really under the hood' - an almost J2EE 1.1 compliant application server. They are chasing JBoss' and others' tails on a prior standard even.

    I used enhydra 3.01 for a major project and it was/is quite good: scalable, robust and fault tolerant, but it seems to have been poisoned by commercial interest and delays in implementing J2EE.

    1. Re:Red Herring by codeforprofit2 · · Score: 1

      I think you are halfright.

      They simple discovered the fact that now they can't just get loads of VC cash but must actually pay for themselfs and must have a income.

  36. Lutris is pulling a MySQL by scrytch · · Score: 2

    Remember MySQL's old documentation, where it poo-pooh'ed the whole concept of transactions, which they didn't implement at the time? That which they couldn't or wouldn't implement, they trashed with FUD. I read something similar from Lutris in their "making waves" column that basically trashes J2EE for being, from what I can decipher from the article, an overall platform name and version for several technologies. The gist seems to be that the name J2EE has so much marketing power that you can no longer use the single pieces of it you need in your application and discard the rest, simply because in order to be branded J2EE, you have to (gasp) comply with the spec. And of course, since the spec is versioned, then well, the little guys can't keep up, so this is Sun's ploy to squeeze them out.

    I suppose this confusion is normal when his application happens to be a J2EE app server, but it's utterly absurd and wrong to say that an application running on a J2EE app server is somehow forced into a monolithic API. It sounds like Lutris is just facing the fact that they started with an app server that was not J2EE then went on a crash program to make it so, and are running into a shortage of manpower. So to compensate, they are including the code from Sun's own J2EE reference implementation.

    No, I'm not a fan of Sun's closed and expensive testing process, but Lutris's argument isn't about that, and it simply doesn't hold any water. Lutris is using Sun's code, not just their specs, and they are griping that they can't sublicense it however they wish. They might have been better off pulling a Zope instead, and just building on their existing app server and damn the J*-acronyms from Sun. Enhydra was damn functional, but as far as front-ends go, they have a lot of catching up to do with Zope.

    --
    I've finally had it: until slashdot gets article moderation, I am not coming back.
    1. Re:Lutris is pulling a MySQL by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      You also need to bear in mind that Lutris "Pre-IPO" is in a dire predicament. Their largest single revenue source, which I won't divulge, is hardly the ideal client for a company trying to sell ecommerce solutions. It seemed for over a year that their main recruiting point was "Pre-IPO, Pre-IPO!!" I couldn't get away from these plugs at the theater (in their home town where I live.) Like the dotcom fallout, the first thing to go was "Pre-IPO" then a certain percentage of their workforce. Now they're hanging on by a thread and the scare put into the economy can't be helping any. Maybe they should look into security software, since that's probably the big growth sector for the next year.


      BTW, you didn't hear any of this from me!

    2. Re:Lutris is pulling a MySQL by WayneES · · Score: 1
      Nope - the Lutris enterprise app server doesn't use Sun RI code. Take a look at the codebase, it was open source until fairly recently.

      The "monolithic" aspect is that if you use a branded J2EE platform you get all the APIs, of the specified version. Agreed you don't have to use all the APIs; your app can be portable to non-J2EE platforms, but the platform has to carry them, and in exactly those API levels. So you can't (legally) have an EJB 1.1 container and a Servlet 2.3 container, for instance - they belong to different monoliths. If you mix those, your platform isn't "J2EE." Thus your app can't call Servlet 2.3 APIs on a J2EE 1.2 platform. Simple as that.

  37. Sun man speak with forked tongue by Keith+Russell · · Score: 2
    I love this quote from Sun's PR flak:
    ...we are far closer to the Open Source community than someone like Microsoft and, dare I say, IBM.


    1: Sun is closer to Open Source than Microsoft is: It is equally true that Seattle, WA is closer to Mexico than Vancouver, BC is. That doesn't mean they're actually close.

    2: IBM: What a load of Lamborghini exhaust! With IBM, you know exactly where you stand. This is Open, that is Closed. Period. There's no lawyer-speak, snake-in-the-grass, hidden-gotcha licence like Sun Community Source License to worry about.
    --
    This sig intentionally left blank.
    1. Re:Sun man speak with forked tongue by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maybe if you read the actual licensing agreement you would understand what it says? Don't you think it's worth a try? Please quit reading slashdot for a few minutes and go read the license in question. License agreements don't lie.

    2. Re:Sun man speak with forked tongue by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      More Sun open source related projects:

      JXTA
      http://www.jxta.org/

      SunSource.Net - Collection of Open Source Projects
      http://www.sunsource.net/

  38. License doesn't allow Open Source by poisoneleven · · Score: 1

    When MS' licence agreement doesn't allow Open Source programs to be developed with it, the world is coming to an end. When Sun's License agreement doesn't allow it, it's just matter of fact. Why the difference in views? Is Sun magically immune from all of the flames that MS gets?

    1. Re:License doesn't allow Open Source by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Why the difference in views?

      Because this is /dot. Leave logic and reason at the door...

  39. FEAR NOT! The problem is not with J2EE! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting
    The problem here is not with the J2EE license, as some have claimed.

    The problem is that Enhydra is based on Sun's reference implementation of J2EE, not on a clean-room implementation like JBOSS. Sun's license for the reference implementation is the problem, not the J2EE license.

    OSS and J2EE work together.

  40. Ok, sort of a dumb question... by weslocke · · Score: 2, Interesting

    but since I'm not a Java developer it's sort of an "on the outside looking in" thing.

    Sun developed the J2EE SDK, and released it to developers with the licensing requirements (and whatnot) fully disclosed. Lutris then comes along later and is upset that Sun won't rewrite their licensing procedures and open source their language interface just to suit them?

    And the people here are actually upset about this?

    How is Sun the bad guy for not giving away the sourcecode to their product (when they've never had any intention of doing so) just because some other company (I imagine the 'Good Guy') thinks they should?

    --

    'Life is like a spoonful of Drain-O, it feels good on the way down but leaves you feeling hollow inside'
  41. Embrace Openness and Freedom.... by RoadWarriorX · · Score: 1

    This is the exact reason that I do not use Java anymore. The Sun Community Source License (SCSL) is a farce. Is it *really* open-source? Not in my opinion. It could be closed at anytime, anyplace, without notice, leaving the community behind. It definitely *not* GPL compatible(see http://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html#GPLI ncompatibleLicenses), so it is not promoting software freedom. So, why does not Sun leave Java as proprietary and closed-source? It is a hell of a lot better than upsetting a bunch of dedicated developers. If the "next big thing" is web services, Java does not have to be the only alternative to Microsoft .NET. There are others out there....

    1. Re:Embrace Openness and Freedom.... by BillKarwin · · Score: 1

      Who said SCSL was an open source license? Very little about Java is open source. It's effectively a proprietary Sun technology, notwithstanding IBM JDK and so on... Not that this is such a bad thing. There's something to be said for having a powerful vendor behind the technology, helping to make it useful and widespread. Java has become better supported by the industry than Perl, even though Java is only half as old. Cheers!

  42. Burned by Enhydra Before... by smartguy · · Score: 0

    I used to use (and promote the use of) Enhydra's free InstantDB Java database. One day (this summer) I went to the site and they had revoked the free license and replaced it with a $99 license. I stopped using it immedediately. I now use Cloudscape as it is at least free for development.

    1. Re:Burned by Enhydra Before... by BillKarwin · · Score: 1

      Cloudscape is $99 for a deployment license, too, according to Informix's press release for Cloudscape 3.6 (2/20/2001). So you're not saving any money by switching to Cloudscape, unless you never deploy it, or if you plan to deploy anyway in violation of Informix's license.

      Anyway, Lutris never did release the source of InstantDB, and they never made an official statement any stronger than a vague intention to release the source of InstantDB. They own InstantDB, and they have the right to do with it what makes sense for their business.

      What some people overlook is that companies do own their software, they don't sell it to you, they license it to you for specific uses, with conditions. This is true of MS Windows, and Java, and InstantDB, and almost everything -- including most open source software!

  43. Lutris is saving the face on this by icoloma · · Score: 1

    Lutris is using the license of the new J2EE draft as an excuse to close the OS initiative on the Enhydra project. The fact is, that license is only a DRAFT and not DEFINITIVE. Older J2EE especifications have different and more permisive licenses, it may be to prevent implementations on a not-yet-approved spec.

    Even if this was true, Lutris hasn't ever tried to solve the problem. The attitude of "well, we aren't gonna keep on this, but it's not our fault, blame Sun" is not very clean.

    If I had contributed to the OS part of a product that is now going to be closed up by Lutris, I would just be pissed.

  44. ESR on the WTC Attack by szcx · · Score: 1, Offtopic
    Boneheaded, opportunistic comment of the day. Last week Jerry Falwell blamed the WTC attack on the ACLU, feminists, and gays. Here's what ESR has to say about it;

    Raymond, the libertarian open-source guru, known for his love of firearms, suggested that if the passengers of the hijacked jets had had guns the four-plane tragedy might have been prevented: "We have learned today that trying to keep civilian weapons out of airplanes and other areas vulnerable to terrorist attack is not the answer either -- indeed, it is arguable that the lawmakers who disarmed all the non-terrorists on those four airplanes, leaving them no chance to stop the hijackers, bear part of the moral responsibility for this catastrophe."
    The story about this took less than five minutes to be rejected by the editors. Apparently when your stock is circling the drain, a member of the Board of Directors saying something like that isn't something you necessarily want publicised.

    Think air rage is bad now? Try arming those drunk businessmen and see what happens.

    1. Re:ESR on the WTC Attack by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Should passengers be allowed to take carry-on weapons on their flight with them, as well as ammunition?

      Certainly, the pilots and flight attendants should be armed with stun guns (with "smart" technology so they can't be commandeered by passengers).

      However, even a low power gun, such as a 22, can rupture the skin of the airplane, resulting in a loss of pressure, and virtually assuring a crash. Highly fragile bullets are available, which would reduce this likelihood.

      Previously, there were terrorists who snuck a bomb aboard somehow (ie Pan Am flight 103 / Lockerbie scotland) and terrorists who snuck a gun / knife /etc on board, and wanted to go to Cuba or wherever. In the first case, having armed passengers wouldn't help, and in the second case, historically, the MO was to take the plane where they wanted, and no one gets hurt.

      If the pilot, crew, or passengers knew the hijackers planned on crashing into a building, they would risk their lives to overpower the terrorists (as happened in flight #4). If they believe they'll just be inconvenienced by a nutcase looking for attention, it's better to sit still and smile politely.

    2. Re:ESR on the WTC Attack by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, whenever you think you've seen the worst raving lunatic leading Free s/w movement (mr. Stalin-man), there are the news about this crack-smoking Open s/w "prophet"... Not that I'm surprised, having read about interesting combo of values ESR has (buddhism with gun-zealotry... man that's weird), but still. It's too bad they mentioned Open Source along with his name... poor association for OS.

    3. Re:ESR on the WTC Attack by sheldon · · Score: 2

      For a community which talks about freedom and openness, it amazes me to what level it will go to to stifle speech which is not favorable to it's cause.

      This article may have been Offtopic, but it's important to learn about these things.

      I'm glad I was browsing at -1 today.

    4. Re:ESR on the WTC Attack by Mastoid · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      Get a life, yahoo.

      Offtopic is offtopic. We're reading this to discuss Lutris and Enhydra and nothing else. Marking an offtopic post as such has nothing to do with stifling speech.

      Oh, and as long as I'm flaming you, the possessive form of the word is "its," not "it's."

      --
      I had an argument...with the person here at the university that teaches OS design. I wonder when I'll learn --Linus
  45. I worked at Lutris by TheZalm · · Score: 1

    I worked for Lutris not too long ago, in
    their Enhydra side (they also have a service
    oriented side to their business - building commercial websites etc)
    They were excited about the use of Open Source, but
    I could tell then that they didn't fully understand it, and they had troubles figuring out how to keep an open source Enhydra, even though they truly meant to keep it open source. The J2EE issue was the biggest obstacle they faced, but they never thought they would have to give up open source. I worked for a guy there that used to work for Sun, and had even worked on the Java language, so he knew what kind of a company Sun is... and it just turns out that they even if they made a J2EE product thats fully J2EE compliant, they wouldn't
    be able to market it as such without an expensive license from Sun, and that was a big difficulty they were having. Now the J2EE problem appears to have "resolved" itself by elliminating the open source side of Enhydra, which is SAD!!!! But, like I said, they seemed to have a mildly slippery grasp of what open source is about.

    Lutris is also having financial problems (who isnt?) which is another sad thing. They are a great company. It's sad that they had to give up the open source Enhydra.

  46. More on the Lutris Situation by LeeZard · · Score: 2, Informative
    I have worked with Lutris in the past with both Enhydra (version 2.3-3.0 and spec'd migration to the J2EE framework in enterprise) and there is more to all of this than just licenses from Sun and the J2EE framework. Don't get me wrong, what has been pointed out previously about the reference implementation and redeployment with different license terms would be an issue, but its more of a business trying to remain afloat.

    Lutris was a consulting services company to start with. Enhydra was developed by bringing together a lot of what they used to develop and deploy customer web applications in previous projects. Since they were a consulting services company first, an open source process served to both (marginally) push forward the development of the applications server with public support, but also create a low barrier to adoption for companies to get the services process in the door. I was a software director at one of those companies that adopted the process and then moved to bring in the consulting side to deploy a very large application on.

    Things were going great there when the economy was going great -- consulting services paid all the bills for the engineering crew to continue the primary development of the app server. The problem is when the economy turned south, the first thing to be cut were the consulting groups. Lutris had their contracts drying up and couldn't continue to pay the bills that way. Pretty soon they were left with a model that wouldn't work in an economy without a lot of free cash. There had to be another way to generate revenue or to go out of business. That model had to concentrate on traditional software development and open source companies haven't weathered that storm very well when there were commercial or other products that had more functionality or more entrenched customer bases. The quickest way to catch up was to push the enhydra enterprise process, use as much as possible to get it to a finished state (Sun ref implementation) and try to pull in product revenue with traditional sales. This couldn't be rectified with the open source licenses they were previously working on.

    It's economics. Sure Sun's license for using their implementation of things is going to effect that, but its an after the fact reason. The underlying problem is that a consulting services company with no contracts isn't going to stay in business... A software company at least has a fighting chance.

    I had friends that work(ed) there and this is not necessarily what they wanted out of things, but the survival instinct can be a powerful one. Has the discovery channel taught us nothing?

    1. Re:More on the Lutris Situation by sinster · · Score: 1

      Just to reinforce LeeZard's commments on Lutris' financial problems.

      I live here in Santa Cruz, and know a lot of people who used to work for Lutris and are now looking for work.

      It was only a year ago that Lutris was in the middle of a hiring frenzy. I knew many people who had just started working for Lutris and many others who were interviewing there. Most of these are engineers (I don't know a whole lot of people who aren't engineers). Consulting companies that did a lot of work with Lutris, like Giavaneers, were also in a great position.

      These days, all of my buddies who were new Lutris hires are out looking for jobs, and many of the old guard at Lutris are also out. This isn't to say that Lutris axed most of their work force: many of the people who I know still work for Lutris, but its a much smaller number than it was 6 months back.

      The economy slump has hit Santa Cruz tech businesses hard, and those businesses who were hiring rapidly a year ago seem to be the hardest hit of all.

      --
      -- Nolite audere delere orbiculum rigidum meum.
  47. More proof of Sun's intentions with Java by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Sun will never open source Java. Expect fees for using their JVM and/or J2EE within two years.

  48. I've read the Sun agreement - it is closed. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No lie. Please learn to read yourself before spouting off your nonsense about Java's openness.

  49. ORP by Wesley+Felter · · Score: 2

    ORP is a research Java VM from Intel with fast JITs and GCs. It's not usable for real work, though.

  50. Re:FEAR NOT! The problem is not with J2EE! by kbigelow · · Score: 1

    You are in error. JBOSS makes extensive illegal use of Sun code. In JBoss 2.4, uploaded on Monday, Sept 10th 2001, I see: Sun's JAAS is in JBOSS, supplied under under the internal-use only BCL, which is the non-deployment license ("use the binary form of the Software for the sole purpose of designing, developing and testing...") Sun's JNDI is in JBOSS, jndi.jar in client package, ver 1.2.1), also released under BCL, which is the non-deployment license ("use the binary form of the Software for the sole purpose of designing, developing and testing...") Sun's JavaMail 1.2, released under internal-use BCL, which is the non-deployment license ("use the binary form of the Software for the sole purpose of designing, developing and testing...") Sun's JAF, released under internal-use BCL, which is the non-deployment license ("use the binary form of the Software for the sole purpose of designing, developing and testing...") thanks, keith

  51. Re:FEAR NOT! The problem is not with J2EE! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting
    No, the Lutris EAS is not based on Sun reference implementation code at all, and that's not the core issue. In fact, Lutris went to significant lengths to find or provide clean-room (non-Sun) implementations of the APIs in the app server. Last time I looked at the codebase it was all non-Sun (except for the JNDI providers, maybe) or had been supplied by Sun with a permissive license (for example, the Servlet API came via Apache)

    The issue is simply that if you want to brand as "J2EE" you have to sign a license, then pass a test (which is A Good Thing, IMO - as a consumer, I like the brand protection). Part of the license you sign holds that your use of all the code you used to pass the test is brought under the control of that license. The SCSL license thereby prohibits the kind of code sharing and changing that is a hallmark of OSS.

    JBoss does redistribute Sun RI code without license - lots of it. Take a look! As far as I can tell, the JBoss community isn't concerning itself with their "customer's" future problem of being in violation of Sun copyrights, licenses and deployment restrictions.

  52. Open Source / Private Fixes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Richard Emberson: Folks contribute to an open source project and then the project turns close source on them and goes commercial. There ought to be lanuage in the Open Source licenses which disallow this bait-and-switch. In addition, there
    ought to be a license developed which submitters of bug fixes could attach to their code disallowing the use of the bug fix code (or even the registration that a bug exists) unless the source code remains open, i.e., an Open Bug license.

    1. Re:Open Source / Private Fixes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm getting thoroughly pissed off with these assumptions that Lutris has made use of contributed code and then taken it away. The Enhydra licence (EPL) wouldn't have permitted contributed code to be "closed" if there was any, but the fact is there wasn't any contributed code in Enhydra Enterprise so it's a completely irrelevant point. If Lutris were actually getting any help from the freeloaders using their code, they might have thought twice about taking it down, but they weren't.

  53. Re:Oh really? by ackthpt · · Score: 1

    SAS? SAS Institute? Well, they're hardly open source, man! (Tho the Software distillery, when it was run out of there made some pretty cool Amiga Apps (c=

    --

    A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
  54. Is this an issue though? by sterno · · Score: 2

    If JBoss is merely taking the existing Sun implementation and packaging it with their software is this a problem? I mean, the SCSL and all that applies to MODIFYING their code, right? To quote the license:


    2. License to Distribute Software. In addition to the license granted in Section 1 (Software Internal Use and Development License Grant) of these Supplemental Terms, subject to the terms and conditions of this Agreement, including but not limited to Section 3 (Java Technology Restrictions), Sun grants you a non-exclusive, non-transferable, limited license to reproduce and distribute the Software in binary form only, provided that you (i) distribute the Software complete and unmodified and only bundled as part of your Programs, (ii) do not distribute additional software intended to replace any component(s) of the Software, (iii) do not remove or alter any proprietary legends or notices contained in the Software, (iv) only distribute the Software subject to a license agreement that protects Sun's interests consistent with the terms contained in this Agreement, and (v) agree to defend and indemnify Sun and its licensors from and against any damages, costs, liabilities, settlement amounts and/or expenses (including attorneys' fees) incurred in connection with any claim, lawsuit or action by any third party that arises or results from the use or distribution of any and all Programs and/or Software.


    I grabbed this section of the license from Sun's JNDI license. It seems that as long as you use their code as is you may simply redistribute their binaries which is what appears to be happening with JBoss. JBoss has lots of code that wraps these various packages and ties them all together, but as long as they are not actually modifiying Sun's code then they SHOULD be in the clear.

    --
    This sig has been temporarily disconnected or is no longer in service
    1. Re:Is this an issue though? by WayneES · · Score: 1
      No, SCSL isn't about restricting code modifications; it's about restrivting the use the code is put to, and who gets to do it.

      The license to redistibute seems to require that you impose the same license on those to whom you redistribute, right? (See section 2(iv) as cited). Now go back to that same supplemental license, Section 1, and look at what rights you (or those to whom you redistribute) have with respect to actual use:

      1. Software Internal Use and Development License Grant. Subject to the terms and conditions of this Agreement, including, but not limited to Section 3 (Java(TM) Technology Restrictions) of these Supplemental Terms, Sun grants you a non-exclusive, non-transferable, limited license to reproduce internally and use internally the binary form of the Software for the sole purpose of designing, developing and testing your Java applets and applications ("Programs").

      This says to me that you can use Sun code to help you build your programs, but not to deploy them. And that restriction is transitively applied.

      The primary license Section 1 grants you the right to "internal use" only.

      So as I (no lawyer) read it, when JBoss et al redistributes Sun RI code in their codebase, they restrict the codebase they supply to being used only for developer support purposes. When I as a user adopt the JBoss codebase, I accept the possibility that the license owner (Sun) may come and demand I stop using the code in deployed production use.

    2. Re:Is this an issue though? by Andy+Schaefer · · Score: 1

      Hi
      You forgot to read the intro on the extension which says that it supersede the previous part if they conflict.
      Therefore JBoss does not violate (because I am not a layer (also) I can be wrong, of course).
      Have a nice day - Andy

    3. Re:Is this an issue though? by WayneES · · Score: 1
      I don't see the escape ... first, there isn't a conflict (only an extension), but even if there was then the superceding supplemental license is pretty clear about your right to use being limited to internal, development support.

      I'm not saying JBoss organization violates a license by redistributing the binaries of the Sun code; I'm saying the code so redistributed apparently cannot be used in production/deployment.

    4. Re:Is this an issue though? by Andy+Schaefer · · Score: 1
      This part is from the "JAF" lisence:

      These supplemental license terms ("Supplemental Terms") add to or modify the terms of the Binary Code License Agreement (collectively, the "Agreement"). Capitalized terms not defined in these Supplemental Terms shall have the same meanings ascribed to them in the Agreement. These Supplemental Terms shall supersede any inconsistent or conflicting terms in the Agreement, or in any license contained within the Software.
      1. Software Internal Use and Development License Grant. Subject to the terms and conditions of this Agreement, including, but not limited to Section 3 (Java(TM) Technology Restrictions) of these Supplemental Terms, Sun grants you a non-exclusive, non-transferable, limited license to reproduce internally and use internally the binary form of the Software, complete and unmodified, for the sole purpose of designing, developing and testing your Java applets and applications ("Programs").
      2. License to Distribute Software. In addition to the license granted in Section 1 (Software Internal Use and Development License Grant) of these Supplemental Terms, subject to the terms and conditions of this Agreement, including but not limited to, Section 3 (Java Technology Restrictions) of these Supplemental Terms, Sun grants you a non-exclusive, non-transferable, limited license to reproduce and distribute the Software in binary code form only, provided that you (i) distribute the Software complete and unmodified and only bundled as part of your Programs, (ii) do not distribute additional software intended to replace any component(s) of the Software, (iii) do not remove or alter any proprietary legends or notices contained in the Software, (iv) only distribute the Software subject to a license agreement that protects Sun's interests consistent with the terms contained in this Agreement, and (v) agree to defend and indemnify Sun and its licensors from and against any damages, costs, liabilities, settlement amounts and/or expenses (including attorneys' fees) incurred in connection with any claim, lawsuit or action by any third party that arises or results from the use or distribution of any and all Programs and/or Software.

      Doesn't the part 2 tell that you can re-distribute the software and can be used in conjunction with your programs (and only with them).

    5. Re:Is this an issue though? by WayneES · · Score: 1
      No, Section 2 of the BCL doesn't say that at all (to me).

      When Section 2, part (iv) says you can only redistribute "subject to a license ... consistent with the terms in this Agreement..." I take that to mean that the BCL applies to each receiver of the software. When you pass on the Software, you pass on the license, in total.

      And Section 1 says "use internally ... for the sole purpose" of developer support. This applies to any use of the software, whether you get it direct from Sun or by FedEx from an Open Source pure-hearted goodnik. The point isn't the redistribution as such, it is the limitation on the use, a limitation which I am concerned many users of open source software may not know about.

  55. Who modded this yahoo up? by AKAImBatman · · Score: 1

    Lemme see:

    Full open source projects:

    OpenOffice

    Netbeans

    Tomcat (The source was gifted from Sun)

    NFS (gifted to the Linux community)

    They also have source that free for research and internal use at:

    http://www.sun.com/software/communitysource/index. html

    They also have given financial and programming support to:

    Gnome

    Mozilla

    And I'm just scratching the surface! And for the record, Lutris was perfectly able to create a fully open source, J2EE branded server. The catch 22 was that they couldn't open source Sun's code so they would have to write their own. Did they? No.

    Geez, you people could at least TRY to understand the issue before shooting off at the mouth.

    Disclaimer: This post does not meet established Slashdot doctrine. Go ahead, mod me down. I dare you. Be a censor just like the news media. The truth? You can't handle the truth!

    1. Re:Who modded this yahoo up? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Gotta agree - Sun has supported a lot of open source software. That's what hardware vendors do, to stimulate demand for their for-sale products. Intel, IBM, Sun, HP, Compaq, Fujitsu, ... these are all big OSS boosters, putting up hard cash to keep the software changing and adding customer-perceived value to the platforms they make. I'm happy to benefit from it!

      But that doesn't mean Sun always supports open source, of course - nor even that they should. That's a business decision they make with responsibility to their stockholders. (Truth-in-posting ... I hold call options on SUNW at $50 strike price for next January. So I want them to make money. But I think maybe my judgement wasn't so good a few months back :(

      In the case of J2EE, Sun is valuing consistancy of platform (to attract enterprise customers) over flexibility and openness in the vendor community; and, they are valuing their income stream from the SCSL licensees. (Remember the hoo-rah about IBM not doing J2EE because "you ain't getting 3% of Websphere revenues" ?! As I have heard the tale, that was resolved by appealing to existing all-technology cross-licensing agreements that predated the J2EE branding campaign ... and, which depended on the fact that IBM actuals owns most of the IP in J2EE ... Sun only owns the trademark on the brand :)

      Oh, and as for the record - the Lutris app server does not use Sun J2EE RI code! At least, the Enhydra Enterprise codebase didn't as of its last availability (sad that it's no longer posted at www.enhydra.org). There was code published/released by Apache, JOnAS, Lutris, IBM, and maybe others ... but no Sun J2EE RI code. AFAIK, the closest they got to being a bit dodgy was implementing the EJB 1.1 API without being a SCSL licensee; but since they didn't actually sell the code into deployment use, I guess they could claim it was for "evaluation" use, which is (I think) OK.

    2. Re:Who modded this yahoo up? by AKAImBatman · · Score: 1

      Oh, and as for the record - the Lutris app server does not use Sun J2EE RI code! At least, the Enhydra Enterprise codebase didn't as of its last availability (sad that it's no longer posted at www.enhydra.org).


      They probably closed the source so they could use the RI code. JOnAS was never a very good EJB container, but it was the first free one. However, that distinction won't help it pass the J2EE tests. As a result, they probably dumped it in favor of tweaking Sun's container. Not too surprising.

  56. This is not the issue by AKAImBatman · · Score: 1

    More than anything, the anger from their customers is due to the fact that they wouldn't say this outright. They make the decision to go closed source, fine. That is their decision to make and one I can respect. But don't blame Sun for that. Sun has very open licensing procedures and really does try to work with their licencees.

    Asking Sun to hand over control of source that they developed is extreme and is not a good excuse under any circumstances. End of story.

  57. Who needs Enhydra? by consumer · · Score: 2, Funny

    With things like Resin (very fast servlet runner), Tomcat, jboss, Jonas, and OpenEJB, why would we care about Enhydra? It was always kind of a bizarre product anyway, with one of the lamest templating languages I've seen. Open source Java is alive and well.

  58. gcj by codealot · · Score: 2, Offtopic

    gcj 3.0 implements a great deal of 1.2. It's lacking AWT/Swing and RMI. The latter will be in 3.1.

  59. Enterprise was not enhydra & was clean-room by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Some facts, folks: - Enhydra was/is a super-servlet runner, principly for XMLC (templates) and DODS (DB). It is still open-source. - Enterprise was a completely new project, based on a services architecture - The services architecture tied services together dynamically but tightly. All other "services" architectures use loosely-bound XML interfaces. Thus, it had significant advantages over jBoss. (Their implementation of JMX predates and imho was higher-quality than jBoss.) - jBoss is violating a number of J2EE and other license provisions. People who deploy it need to do their own due diligence.

  60. Zope Enterprise is still open by CAB · · Score: 1

    I'd go for Zope... has the better feelgood factor.

    --
    Best regards,
    Steen Suder
    -- for email: send to .net
  61. First hit is free... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Get'em hooked on 'free/open source' Java and then get it ($$$) all back, and then some, on a bloated middleware technology.

  62. SCSL is a commercial virus by dotLang · · Score: 1

    I don't think the issue is Lutris. Lutris probably tried to get the license and failed; after all, they'd be in a much better position if they were open-source and J2EE; that would be a completely unique market position. Per Sun, if you read the J2EE spec, you agree to do nothing unless you license J2EE from them. SCSL is the only J2EE license, and Sun won't let you sign it unless they're sure your open-source (good) won't conflict with theirs (bad). Sun is the only game in town because to interoperate with them, you've got to use their API's, under license. Get the gospel? With the JCP, they lock up all the priests. So we're back to the cathedral, with Sun in charge of gospel and clergy alike. Sun squelches competition in enterprise Java software by reaching backwards with the JCP process and viral licenses that require more licensing to deploy and forwards with SCSL's trademark-based scheme (can't deploy without the trademark; need the license to get the trademark). You want viral? Check out the J2EE spec license, JAXP 1.1, heck, even JavaHelp - they all say you can't implement javax.* namespace without getting a license from Sun. The only exceptions are the special Apache licenses which are designed to get us all onto java based two-tier systems. But Sun would not let lutris do this. Why? My bet is that Lutris had the open-source BUSINESS MODEL of giving it away and making money off services and add-on's. That goes completely against Sun's license-based scheme for using app-server vendors to reach into the pockets of developers. I doubt any vendor with netscape's razors-and-blades model would get a license from Sun, because that would hurt Sun and the other licensees too much. Sun prefers value to be in IP that can be licensed (and contained); they can't reasonable reach into services and other revenues. Licensing law is worse that copyright and patent in this regard; at least for those, there are objective standards. Here, Sun can impose any standard it wishes in its "licenses", even if the only thing it's licensing is the opportunity to play the game. At least when MS was setting de facto standards, they had the burden of delivering a quality implementation that beat the others in the marketplace first.

    1. Re:SCSL is a commercial virus by catseye_95051 · · Score: 2

      I love the internet. It's the best medium ever invnted for those who knwo nothing to inform those who know less.

      For the record, your logical chain breaks down in about the third sentance...

      " SCSL is the only J2EE license,"

      SCSL is the only open and freely available license. SCSL has nothing to do with the J2EE license, or for that matter even the license to create and destribute a VM.

      SCSL exists because a lot of us asked for a view into the java source for two reasons:
      (1) As additional documentation.
      (2) To assist in bug fixing.

      SCSL allows for both of these admirably.

    2. Re:SCSL is a commercial virus by dotLang · · Score: 1

      "It's the best medium ever invnted for those who knwo nothing to inform those who know less" Every J2EE vendor - BEA, et al - has signed some variant of SCSL as applied to the J2EE technology. Ask Sun if there are any alternatives.

    3. Re:SCSL is a commercial virus by catseye_95051 · · Score: 2

      Great assertion, proof please?

      noone has yet shown anything that requires a J2EE licensee to be a SCSL licensee. There is nothing to my knwoeldge in the J2EE license agreement that requires you be a SCSl signee. if you have soemthing, please quote it.

      In order to get J2EE licensed AFAIK all you need do is sign the J2EE agreement and pass the appropriate TCKs. The "alternative" is simple. The J2EE spec is public. Build your own from-scratch implementation based on the spec.

      BUt if you want to use SUn's code then you need to license that code from Sun and Sun doesn't pretned that such code is open source.

      >>> IMO WARNING --- CHARGED OPINION BELOW

      This coming down to the same old "open source community" bullying/whining trying to force OTHERS to give away their stuff.

      Real open sourcers give away their OWN stuff, they don't bitch and moan tryign to force others to do it for them.

      Want to be open source, then write some open source code.

  63. Enhydra is full of.... by catseye_95051 · · Score: 2

    I would really like to see an actual explaination of how the J2EE license prevents then for going open source on their code. Particualrly intersting to note is that Sun itself donated an open source app server to Apache ("Tomcat").

    IMO Enhydra has decided that they can't make money in an open source model and are tyring to blame Sun in order to avoid the PR backlash.

    1. Re:Enhydra is full of.... by dotLang · · Score: 1

      SCSL prohibits you from distributing covered code to anyone who is not a SCSL licensee, and "distributing" includes even having an open cvs repository. That means everyone in your "open source" community has to be a SCSL licensee - which sounds doable, until you realize that SCSL licensees agree not to deploy except compliant covered code - i.e., tested and certified. So you can be open source, but you can't build and run it. I certainly would not contribute to a project where I couldn't use what I contributed. So then should Lutris have given away compliant covered code, only publishing what's tested? So I guess you're right, if Lutris published code that had been tested and certified and people agreed to SCSL terms and all the code was available to anyone who'd signed SCSL - I guess that's possible. But it's not compatible with the Mozilla license that it was under. As for Tomcat, it's hardly an app server, though 4.0 has some way cool stuff in it. To equate them is to ignore the difference in engineering effort between tomcat and the multi-thousand-dollar app servers. jBoss has a huge number of good developers, and the quality is still not commercial grade by any means. Don't get me wrong. Lutris may be using this to cover their retreat, but that doesn't mean they weren't forced into it or that Sun is using SCSL/JCP as a way of containing the open source movement as applied to Java.

    2. Re:Enhydra is full of.... by catseye_95051 · · Score: 2

      Two problems:

      (1) SCSL is NOT the J2EE license agreement. You are talking about fundementally different things. I've seen that error all ove this board.

      (2) SCSL only covers code written by Sun. SO what you are tellign me is that Enhydra is complaining that they can't give away someone ELSES code? Pardon me for having no sympathy.....

      Maybe they should write their OWN code so they cna give it away.

    3. Re:Enhydra is full of.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      (1) SCSL is the license agreement for the test suite that you need to run against you server in order to certify it as a "J2EE" server. (2) once you run the test suite from Sun which is covered by SCSL then your own code becomes "covered code" under the SCSL license and you can only share it with other SCSL licensees So the issue is that Lutris would not be able to give away their own code if they signed SCSL. So, it's for the test suite that they would need to sign SCSL not for the RI.

    4. Re:Enhydra is full of.... by catseye_95051 · · Score: 2

      I'm sorry, you are just wrong.

      The SCSL is the "Sun Community Source License" and is for access to the base of source code written by sun (ie the VM source).

      Try reading abotu it here:

      http://www.sun.com/communitysource/

      To put out a J2EE server you need a J2EE license which requries passing a suite of compatability tests called the TCK and agree to pay a royalty on sales in return for use of the J2EE trademark.

      You can find out all about it by filling out this form here:

      http://java.sun.com/j2ee/license_form.html

      Thanks for proving my point about the Internet.

  64. So What? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Nobody uses Enhydra. They didn't even write the EJB container themselves, which is garbage anyway, and it isn't even runnable on Linux. JBoss is the true Open-Source J2EE server. In my experience developing on it, it compares favourably with Weblogic.

  65. Correct and it will kill Java by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Sun's stubborness and arrogance will be their own undoing in this. .net will kick it's arse. Java is rushing headlong into irrelevance, which is a damn shame because we use it extensively here and I think it's a great language for many "Enterprise" (erk) uses. If they don't make it completely open source now, Java WILL die.

    I don't understand why Sun don't see this.

    Cheers

    Andy

  66. Why JBoss will succeed by Brummund · · Score: 2, Interesting

    1. It's an excellent implementation of J2EE

    2. The project has a really active (like in hyperactive :-) project leader/lead programmer, Marc Fleury.

    3. The expertise of the other main programmers on JBoss is impressive.

    4. The community is very active

    5. Now provides a "turn key" (if that's possible with J2EE :-) download with embedded Tomcat or Jetty.

    6. Extremely developer friendly with a working hot deployment (no crappy weblogic "compilers" etc. here ), quick to restart if you want to,
    and handles load fairly well.

    I've used JBoss for some time now and I'm very impressed. JBoss has been rock stable for me, and usable on both Linux and Windows. (The servers on my latest project use JBoss/Tomcat/Debian Potato/Blackdown JDK and it's running 24/7)

    Recommended! Check out http://www.jboss.org

  67. Oh that is Plain awesome! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Java dead? Please dont get my hopes up!

    that damned language needed to be buried in 1997!

  68. philosophical differences by sohp · · Score: 2, Interesting
    Enhydra first came to my attention almost a year ago when the company I was working for at the time was looking at JSP vs. XML for wireless and web presentation development. The folks at Lutris made no secret of their disdain for JSP and J2EE technology generally and their preference for their proprietary XML generating technology for web applications. There's an article about it at IBM's developerworks website at Objects, objects everywhere and another even more relevant one at JSP technology -- friend or foe?

    At this point, Lutris has too much ground to make up against the J2EE server leaders, and no one is jumping onto their proprietary XML binding bandwagon, so Enhydra needs a way to distinguish itself from other Java application servers to get attention. My own evaluation of Enhydra gave me serious reservations with its architecture, including some issues around its scalability. Pointing to Sun and crying foul over the J2EE licensing issues (and that's all it is: an spat over whether or not their product can have the official J2EE compliant label or not), is just poor form.

  69. Open Source J2EE AS Reviews? by gmanske · · Score: 1

    Does anyone know of any reviews of the current leading open source platforms?
    The only link I could source the explicitly mentions JBoss is CSIRO Australia report.
    Suggestions?

  70. Re:Yes, I would agree. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    AC: Mr. bin Laden, do you run Linux?

    bin Laden: Peace and blessings be upon Prophet Muhammad, his companions and his kin. We use many computers and programs to smite the Jews and Crusaders. It is the duty of good Muslims to gather up such computers and programs for the defence of Islam.

    AC: Yeah, but do you run Linux?

    bin Laden: Praise be to God. What I know is that those who configured our systems to earn the pleasure of God, Praise and Glory be to him are the real sysadmins. We highly respect them and hold them in the highest esteem. We cannot know every detail of how the computers are configured.

  71. Try Zope... by darekana · · Score: 1

    Probably the only application server you can have up and running in 2 minutes. Plus since its all python based, you can get tracebacks and debug the thing live. Lots of cool new method-specific caching features all built in. DAs for lots of different DBs, transactions etc. Solid community. Check it out! Ya might like it.

  72. Re:FEAR NOT! The problem is not with J2EE! by Andy+Schaefer · · Score: 1

    Hi Keith
    You are in error. When you have a close look at all the used binary archives used in JBoss you will figure out that you can use it to distribute with you program as long as you don't change it, don't replace software in this archive and some other legal stuff.
    Therefore JBoss does not violate the license for the bundled archives.
    Have a nice day - Andy

  73. Seems like an easy fix by BeenaBerry · · Score: 1

    Lutris used Sun's reference implementation, hence the problems... couldn't they switch in an open source impl of that component (e.g. JBoss's) for an OS release?

  74. IMO this needs saying.... by catseye_95051 · · Score: 2

    BS like this only flies because people who know nothing shoot off their mouths like they do, and others belive them because its easier then doing your own research.

    The SCSL and the J2EE licenses are totally seperate and dtstinct legal documents and thus seperate and distinct issues.

    If you'ld like to actually learn something about them, based on the posts I've seen here I wouldn't try slashdot. I

    Instead try the actual pointers contained in the post referenced below:

    http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=21699&thresh ol d=-1&commentsort=1&mode=thread&pid=2312751#2312969

  75. Cocoon vs Enhydra by spike666 · · Score: 1
    my question is now without a EJB J2EE server, what does enhydra bring to the table?

    if i wanted to use a system that separated church (presentation) and state (coding) i'd go with Apache Jakarta's Cocoon XML based server. It's basically takes the concept of JSP, uses XML instead of HTML, and does not allow you to put code into the page.
    from what i could tell from a curory reading, this is similar to the Enhydra XMLC component does - reads in your HTML, finds tags and creates stub java code for it. sorta the reverse of JSP - creating code from HTML, instead of inserting or calling code from your .JSP ...

    which is better? i would imagine it depends on your shop's bent - if you're more a bunch of Web Monkeys er... HTML coders, then you could just code up the page, and give it over to your java monkeys who could then use Enhydra to XMLC the html to get stubs of code to fill in.

    on the other hand, you could have your two monkeys actually work together and plan and design out the system, and then use standard JSP or even Cocoon to work together to create JSP or XSP (cocoon) files which have all the pretty graphix and onMouseover javascripted stuff you want.

    i dunno, i suppose enhydra is now yet another way of doing the job.

    but on the other hand, it has nice pretty screens to manage the server... maybe someone on the Jakarta project teams can steal er... use that concept in their open stuff. cuz we all know that Apache needs a bit more GUI management for us to really sell its use in the Enterprise.

    spike

  76. Re:Uh, this is OLD NEWS- and the title's misleadin by loopkin · · Score: 1

    2001-09-11 07:52:50 J2EE/Enhydra: What game is Sun playing with OSS (articles,sun) (rejected)

    This is old news, yes, and, as ever, Slashdot moderators have to be blamed for that.