Slashdot Mirror
Open Source is out of the Java process
Yogidabear writes: "According to the Apache group, Open Source has been officially locked out of the Java process with JSR 99 (Java Specification Participation Agreement). The article on the Jakarta site notes that IBM in particular voted against this JSR and many others noted that they were not happy with the stance Sun was taking against Open Source. What does this mean for the Open Source community as it relates to Java? And, better yet, what does this mean for Java?"
To boycott the following companies, who voted to exclude Open Source:
Sun, TI, Nokia, HP, Borland, Fujitsu, and IONA all voted 'yes' without comment.
Or, they believe that the advantages of the changes made so far outweigh the disadvantage of staying with the current agreement.
On 11-Mar-2002, Apple voted YES with the following comment: Apple fully supports the issues that have been raised by Apache and others, but the new JSPA represents a good step forward relative to the current one. We believe taking this to community review may provide the input that is needed to refine the JSPA before it goes to public review. During the community review, we would like to work with the PMO to refine the JSPA to better reflect the needs of those participating in open source efforts.
On 11-Mar-2002, HP voted YES with no comment.
On 11-Mar-2002, Borland voted YES with no comment.
On 11-Mar-2002, Fujitsu voted YES with no comment.
On 11-Mar-2002, Oracle voted YES with no comment.
*** On 11-Mar-2002, Macromedia voted NO with the following comment: The free and creative spirit of the JCP should be directly and clearly manifested and protected legally. The major objections from the open source community argue that this is not the case, and we feel that the current language does not directly quell these concerns. We would like to see the issues that Apache raises on behalf of the open source community resolved in the JSPA itself before moving forward.
*** On 11-Mar-2002, BEA voted NO with the following comment: After considerable soul searching, BEA has decided to vote NO on this revision of the JSPA. While considerable effort has been exerted by all concerned and significant progress has been made, we still are not convinced that this JSPA would provide the level playing field we have long advocated for Java technologies. The concerns voice by Apache and the open source community is one avenue of concern as is the autocratic power that continues to be vested in spec leads enabling them to attempt mischief to obtain competitive advantage by controlling both the pace of innovation and the availability of that innovation to the marketplace. Unless and until these issues can be satisfactorily addressed, we prefer to stick with our current agreements.
On 11-Mar-2002, Caldera voted YES with the following comment: Caldera agree with a lot of the concerns expressed by Apache. We would like to see more to be done to protect the interests of open source providers.
*** On 11-Mar-2002, Compaq voted NO with the following comment: Compaq shares Apache's concerns and IBM's concerns that the JSPA proposed revision provides insufficient protection for interests of open source providers and competitors (as enumerated at http://jakarta.apache.org/site/jspa-position.html) . Compaq must therefor vote no on this proposed revision
On 11-Mar-2002, IONA voted YES with no comment.
On 09-Mar-2002, Doug Lea ABSTAINED FROM VOTING with the following comment: I share most of Apache's concerns. However, I also think that it would be useful to open this up to the scrutiny of all JCP members, not just the EC. These two factors cancel themsleves out, hence I abstain.
On 08-Mar-2002, Nokia Networks voted YES with no comment.
*** On 06-Mar-2002, IBM voted NO with the following comment: IBM has consistently worked within the Java Community Process since its very inception to create a truly open environment with a level playing field where no single vendor has the ability to exert unnecessary control over Java technologies for their own proprietary advantage. While the current draft of the JSPA is an improvement over prior agreements, we believe we should do more to guarantee specifications, implementations and test suites developed under this agreement will be developed with a broader view of Java communities in mind, and to guarantee they are licensed under terms and conditions that allow the widespread adoption of compliant Java technologies. The JSPA amendments proposed under JSR 99 do not provide these guarantees.
IBM has always believed it is absolutely critical the Java community include Apache as well as the rest of the open source community in order to ensure the long term health and competitive vitality of the Java environment. As a result, IBM is fully supportive of the open source community's need for Sun resolve all the issues raised by Apache at http://jakarta.apache.org/site/jspa-position.html directly and unambiguously in the JSPA agreement itself.
*** On 05-Mar-2002, Apache voted NO with the following comment: Apache is unsatisfied the JSPA revision provides sufficient protection for our interests (as enumerated at http://jakarta.apache.org/site/jspa-position.html) . While we and others
have worked long and hard on the JSPA revision and believe we have
made progress from the previous JSPA, we cannot support a legal
agreement which does not unequivocably satisfy these requirements.
On 05-Mar-2002, Sun voted YES with no comment.
.sig