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Sun Works With Apache Software Foundation
The Jakarta group had raised some concerns over the proposed Java Specification Participation Agreement. After some hemming and hawing, it appears that the Java Community Process chair (Sun) has agreed with the ASF's concerns - but IANAL ? . If you have more info, paste it below.
With Apache representing such a massive (and impressive, they are certainly a great example of success)number of internet/intranet servers out there, I'm not suprised Sun takes them seriously, they probably represent one of the strongest areas of java development currently.
I would truly love Sun to take java *implementation* a little more seriously, they seem to put a lot of work into API designs and the legal situation of java, but don't seem that commited to providing a stable and simple to install environment for developers and users.
The number one bug bear I have repeatedly hit with java is convincing users that it is worth the trouble to get the 'right' implementation installed on a given machine to allow the required functionality to work, and this can sometimes be hit and miss, which is a big problem.
I would love to see Sun dedicate perhaps 6 months to working with other implementers to get java working smoothly and seemlessly on a wide range of hardware and operating systems, as it just doesn't seem to yet.
I know that microsoft has thrown a lot of hurdles in the way of java, however it's not just windows where there seem to be problems. It is just too hard to get users to get their execution environment 'right' to use.
I think this situation will limit java to vertical apps and server use until it is addressed, as these are the only situations where the extra time to get it working is acceptable.
It really looks like Sun went above and beyond the call of duty here. I doubt Apache expected them to use $3 million of their own money to help fix this, but they did it anyway because it turned out that that was the only way to fix issue #4 on their list. Pretty cool. Chalk up one Open Source Brownie Point for Sun.
...and you don't think that eventually Mono will have to do the same monkey tricks that Apache has to do now with Microsoft? All MS has to do is make a key piece of functionality proprietary and not disclose it to Mono, and they have many legal layers they can wrap it under, just like with Samba and Kerberos. Will ActiveState release Perl.net for non-Win32 systems? Will the (crazy?) people who put out Cobol.net do the same? Will MS allow some of the libs used by .Net to be made hostable from non-Win32 systems?
1) Java is not going away. It has a lot of momentum, a number of mature implementations and competing implementations. While .NET will be successful the two are assured of uneasy coexistance for the forseeable future.
.NET platform and as such is in no way comparable to the level of open specification present in the JCP.
2) The specification process for the Java platform is public, includes vendors of competing implementations and gives them an equal vote. MSFT will do all that when hell freezes over, pigs fly and user error is a thing of the past.
3) Don't believe the ECMA C# hype. That is only a small part of the
4) Furthermore, anyone who believes that MSFT is going to play nice needs to take a refresher course on recent history. A vendor with dominent market share has nothing to benefit from high levels of interoperability. The internet alone set MSFT back substantially in continued and extended market domination.