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Red Hat Not Satisfied with Sun's New Java License

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the talking-coffee-related-smack dept.

twofish writes "According to a Register article Sun Microsystems' new GNU/Linux-friendly Java license does not go far enough for Red Hat. Brian Stevens, Red Hat CTO, says Sun should have open-sourced Java instead. The new license does have the support of Canonical (main Ubuntu sponsor), Gentoo and Debian." From the article: "He says the failure to open-source Java means that it can't be used on millions of $100, Linux-powered PCs envisioned under Nicholas Negroponte's One Laptop Per Child project, to bring affordable computing to children in developing nations. Negroponte wants only open source software on the machines, according to Red Hat, which is a member of the project."

3 of 338 comments (clear)

  1. Negroponte's project by giorgiofr · · Score: -1, Flamebait

    Negroponte's project will fail for many reasons and apparently this is one of them: just like the other ones, Negroponte brought them all upon the project by himself.
    He refused to let free market forces help him bring the price down: his stubborness in "not being a business" will simply lead to much higher prices for his laptops. His apparent zealotry wrt OSS will cost him the forced abandonment of many good pieces of software - Java for one. No, don't even try to say this is Sun's fault - Negroponte deliberately chose not to use anything non-OSS and Java just happens to fit this definition.
    When his project finally crashes and burns, or is simply quietly forgotten, I imagine the wailing that will arise out of the fundamentalists all over the left: "Big Business hates poor children" "Developers want to ensnare starving children into their proprietary platform! OH NOES!". Of course, actually donating to his cause might further the project a bit - but hey, rich capitalists should take care of that, certainly not *me*!
    Still, the point of this post is that Negroponte should learn to compromise a bit and bring the result home. Adopting Java would have done NO HARM to the children who will use his computers (if ever). But I guess RMS will approve of Negroponte's proud stance against tainted software.

    --
    Global warming is a cube.
  2. Re:Why would you want java on there anyway? by vivek7006 · · Score: -1, Flamebait

    running Java on top of your OS is just adding weight and complexity

    Could you pass along the crack that you are smoking?

  3. Good! by lewp · · Score: 0, Flamebait
    He says the failure to open-source Java means that it can't be used on millions of $100, Linux-powered PCs envisioned under Nicholas Negroponte's One Laptop Per Child project, to bring affordable computing to children in developing nations.

    Keeping these kids the hell away from Java is a good way to give them an advantage over all those poor kids learning to program in developed nations.

    --
    Game... blouses.