Open source Java?

Bruce writes "Newsforge is reporting that Java 2 Standard Edition, may soon be set free of Sun Microsystems' notoriously complicated licensing. A group of 12 Apache developers have put together a proposal called Harmony. The proposal appeared as a simple project call last Friday on an Apache incubator mailing list. It would make this new, built-from-the-ground-up version of Java available under the Apache 2.0 free software license. And it's causing quite a stir in the Java community, especially since respected Sun frontmen Tim Bray, Simon Phipps, and Graham Hamilton have given the project their blessing. As yet there has been no reaction from Dr. Java, James Gosling himself, who is in Brazil talking to developers. In a FAQ on the Apache site, Harmony project leader Geir Magnusson Jr. wrote: 'We believe that there is broad community interest in coming together to create and use an open source, compatible implementation of J2SE 5, the latest version of the Java 2 Standard Edition specification. While the Java Community Process has allowed open source implementations of JSRs for a few years now, Java 5 is the first of the J2SE specs that we are able to do due to licensing reasons.'"

Comments

Dupe...

[Anonymous Coward]

dupe, dupe, dupe, dupe, dupe.....

Ummm...

[xeon4life]

Aren't there already like 3 or 4 FOSS Java implementations already?

Why is everyone getting hibbidy-jibbidy over this "proposed" implementation that was conceived on a forum?

Is it because a few high-standing developers are saying, "Oh yes, yes, this one, this one!"

I just don't get why this is different, other than maybe the licensing...

Thanks, Bill

[Doc Ruby]

Another preposterous propaganda for Microsoft apologists: MS monopoly abuse forces their impotent competition to open their source to survive.