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Sun will Open Java's Source
bckrispi writes "An announcement from Sun spokesman Raghavan Srinivas indicates that, contrary to what we've heard in the past, Java will be Open-sourced. "We haven't worked out how to open-source Java, but at some point it will happen," Srinivas said."
so, java and solaris will be open source, and hardware will be free. so basically we'll be paying for our work?
This is useless. Considering how often Sun changes its mind, there's no reason to believe anything they say. It'll only be newsworthy when Sun actually does it!
Considering just a month/few months ago Sun was saying no to open sourcing Java, this IS news. It represents a public shift in their coporate strategy. Call it what you will, this is newsworthy.
Little Bricklets
Let's assume this isn't horseshit fed to the masses to keep using Java technology.
(eg. like dressing up in a Penguin suit while handing SCO a paper bag full of money under the table.)
From a business point of view, what's the point?
Mono is nearing release 1.0 and is a very attractive platform for developers. Releasing Java open source 3 years ago would have screwed Microsoft hard, but now I'm not so sure.
I still think open sourcing is the best strategic move for Sun, but I think they have no clue on how to exploit it. They will probably do something silly like release it under the IBM CPL since that's what their competitors are doing.
The best move for them is obviously to GPL it, and use a Trolltech style licensing model. GNU Classpath will naturally get in the way. (again, should have did it 3 years ago).
However, the COO, Johnathan Schwartz recently teased in the media that they might release Looking Glass, Sun's new 3D desktop widget toolkit as open source. I've seen it, it looks great.
If they GPL'd that as well, Sun might have a chance at getting a serious revenue stream happening.
I doubt this will happen though. Sun will keep withering out of fear and inertia. It's the nature of the beast.
By a strange set of circumstances I found myself, a little over a year ago, sitting in a small room with RMS and a standard-issue complement of corporate Win32 support slaves. A FOSS missionary had brought us all together.
I've been a GNU/Linux user since 1997. At home I am now exclusively a G/L user. Am gunning for that at work.
Yet, when RMS told the gathered geeks and semi-interested bystanders (and I paraphrase) I think one should be willing to use inferior free software instead of superior closed software (/paraphrase) I thought Bull fucking shit.
That was before SCO filed suit. That was before I paid enough attention to what's going down in the patent realm. That was before Redhat sold out freedom for whatever it is they think they're getting in exchange for freedom. (The money ain't worth it, guys. You know in your souls -- if you haven't sold them -- that it ain't.)
I was running Redhat then. I'm running Debian now. It's inferior in many respects. It's maddening in many respects. It's free. I'm free.
People who have more chops than I compile their own custom kernels and their own sets of GNU & other FOSS. That's not just freeom. That's power. That's one future that any user is free to choose.
I'm so grateful to those who code in the name of freedom. I am writing this to you on a computer that's as free as I know how to make it, because of Richard Stallman, Linus Torvalds and thousands of like-minded coders.
If, in order to stay free, I have to sign an effing affidavit every time I log on, I will do it.
And I know the coders who believe in what they have taught me to believe in will take the time to certify their code. It's a *very* small price for freedom.
Apache isn't GPLed but that didn't stop most distros from making the Apache the standard web server for Linux.
1f u c4n r34d th1s u r34lly n33d t0 g37 l41d
These are just some examples of what Open Source Java could bring, and why forking is good.
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Create a WAP server
Mono is nearing release 1.0 and is a very attractive platform for developers. Releasing Java open source 3 years ago would have screwed Microsoft hard, but now I'm not so sure.
First you ask what's the point, from a business-point-of-view no less. Then you bring up the legal blackhole that is mono?
The point is not basing your development on a technology owned by a ruthless competitor that has promised to squash you.
The point is having a development environment that is equally supported on multiple platforms by the core designers themselves.
The point is not to have the threat of patent suits looming over you for using an unauthorized and patented language/API/Runtime/Whatever-else-they-patented stack.
If they GPL'd that as well, Sun might have a chance at getting a serious revenue stream happening.
Oh yeah, the money just rolls in when companies GPL software, doesn't it.
Ahhh... Only on Slashdot :)
Based on upvotes, Ageism is the only "-ism" Slashdotters care about and think isn't SJW
3-In fact, there is actually LESS chance of fragmentation when Java lies in the hands of the public, first because it means that no one will start up a competing "openjava", a venture that would almost certainly lead to incompatibilities, and second because, as the example of the death of xfree86 shows, too much central and absolute control over software by a small group will inevitably anger developers and users alike, leading them to search for an alternative.
.Net? Same difference to me, extremely similar platforms with huge amount of duplicated code (Ant and NAnt, JUnit and NUnit, etc.). What you said about the issues with forks is true until someone big enough does it, and we are seeing the result in front of our very eyes.
Say, isn't "OpenJava" called
As for control by the public - Java is already controlled by the public at large through the JCP. I do think opening the source could get some people more fired up about some things though, as the JCP can be rather slow.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
"Often, the open source community has a very narrow and selfish view when it comes to certain things. Like, why make software easy to install, like OS X? No need- any Linux user (present or future) is smart enough to compile his own software, resolve dependencies, etc."
.NET is bragging about how great it is. How about GCJ? It can produce native executables from Java source code. Perl and Python are also very nice and powerful languages.
Sigh... don't give me stupid stereotypes like that. I've been working for more than 2 years on the autopackage project, which is exactly trying to make Linux software installation easier. I've put many man hours into the project and you come up with a dumb stereotype!? I'm very insulted! I'm sure all the people who put a lot of efford into GNOME and KDE would feel the same way too.
I swear, if Linux ever fails on the desktop, it'll be because people like you keep insulting developers with dumb stereotypes.
"A person has to ask- could the OSS community ever have produced a gem like OS X? Could it have produced Java? OSS has the skillset, some of the sharpest folks on the planet."
Yeah. How about Mono? Everybody who has tried
"But who is keeping them coordinated? Who is the CEO with a single, cohesive vision?"
How about the project maintainer? The BSDs has a clear visiion of what it's supposed to be. Inkscape's maintainer has a clear vision of the future. There are good and bad maintainers, but there are also good and bad CEOs. Don't act like corporate control is some kind of bliss.