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Open Source is out of the Java process

Posted by timothy on from the switch-to-tea dept.

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?"

4 of 38 comments (clear)

  1. The only way to protest is... by leviramsey · · Score: 3, Informative

    To boycott the following companies, who voted to exclude Open Source:

    • Apple (though they raise some concerns... cut your Apple purchasing plans in half)
    • HP
    • Borland
    • Fujitsu
    • Oracle
    • Caldera (see Apple)
    • IONA
    • Nokia
    • SUN
  2. Reference to Doom by fm6 · · Score: 4, Insightful
    No, Jakarta is strictly an Apache thing. As with all things Java, Sun does its own reference implementations.

    Let's face it. Java's worst enemy is not Microsoft. It's Sun. It's true that Microsft did a pretty good job of screwing up Java. But they didn't do it out of malice or greed. The folks in Redmond simply suffer from the arrogant believe that only they know how to architect software platforms -- and so do the folks in Menlo Park.

  3. But many said Apache/OS was important! by ChiefPilot · · Score: 4, Informative
    Apple, Caldera, Phillips, Seimens, Palm, and Moto all voted 'yes' while noting in their comments that Apache/Open Source participation in the JCP was important.

    Sun, TI, Nokia, HP, Borland, Fujitsu, and IONA all voted 'yes' without comment.

  4. Java is beyond hope by mmusn · · Score: 3, Interesting
    Seven years ago, Sun promised to keep Java open and free. What do we have today? A bloated set of APIs implemented by only a single vendor and a process that takes years to add even the simplest improvements to the Java language and libraries. And Sun has failed to take any actions that would guarantee to Java users that Java remains freely available--Sun could start charging for it any day, and you couldn't even download binaries anymore.

    I think Sun Java and the JCP is beyond hope. Open source developers should either define their own core "Java" implementation and libraries that discards most of the overly complex and Sun proprietary stuff, or just join up with the Mono project (Microsoft is no better than Sun, but Mono is producing a fully open source implementation of C#, and that's what counts).