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Does an Open Java Really Matter?

snydeq writes "Fatal Exception's Neil McAllister questions the relevance of the recent opening of Java given the wealth of options open source developers enjoy today. Sure, as the first full-blooded Java implementation available under a 100 percent Free Software license, RedHat's IcedTea pushes aside open source objections to developing in Java. Yet, McAllister asks, if Java really were released today, brand-new, would it be a tool you'd choose? 'The problem, as I see it, is twofold,' he writes. 'First, as the Java platform has matured, it has become incredibly complex. Today it's possible to do anything with Java, but no one developer can do everything — there simply aren't enough hours in the day to learn it all. Second, and most important, even as Java has stretched outward to embrace more concepts and technologies — adding APIs and language features as it goes — newer, more lightweight tools have appeared that do most of what Java aims to do. And they often do it better.'" Since Java itself never mattered except to sell books, I still don't see why opening it matters.

12 of 766 comments (clear)

  1. Open Source Java is good for something! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic
  2. Re:(Troll) I hate java, why does /. love it? by argent · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    ECMAScript 2 (Javascript) has a better object model than Java. Unfortunately ECMAScript 3 is giving up a lot of the advantages in an attempt to squash problems that are at least as much the fault of embedded libraries as the object model. :(

    I'd really like to see FScript opened up to more than just the Mac. That's the thing that really makes me reluctant to get into it on the Mac... I don't want to work in a language (open source or not) that isn't portable.

  3. GNAA Penis Rocket To The Moon Project by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Thu Jun 26, 2008 (GNAA Wire): Gay Nigger Association of America (GNAA) is proud to announce the release of open source clown face boxing gloves 1.0! With GNAA Open Source Clown Face Boxing Gloves (OSCFBG) you'll enjoy hours of anal fisting with a happy painted face smiling back at you, you'll never be alone again!

    Order your GNAA Open Source Clown Face Boxing Gloves for anal fisting today! All proceeds to go our penis rocket to the moon project!
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    1. Re:GNAA Penis Rocket To The Moon Project by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic
      Not Found

      Regardless, here is something useful you can do with open source java

  4. Re:Amazing Online 3D web content by stevens · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Yay, a Rickroll, that's so new and still funny.

  5. Re:Amazing Online 3D web content by BiggerBadderBen · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Please go fuck yourself

  6. DO NOT CLICK by surmak · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Mods, please mod parent down, and do not click the link. It leads to http://www.raygoldmodels.com/ which is impossible to exit short of killing your web browser due to endless message popups.

    (On a related note does anyone know of a way to deal with web pages that begin spewing endless modal dialogs, one after another?)

    1. Re:DO NOT CLICK by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      If you want to avoid webpages that spew endless dialogs you can download the Rick Roll Detector firefox extension.

  7. Re:"Java never mattered"? by JohnSearle · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    I take issue with you saying "Go ahead, mod me as flamebait! I'm used to it."

    Taking a look at your comment history, most of your comments have been modded 'insightful' or 'funny'. And, if you do have 'flamebait' comments, then they're hidden below my field of view, which would imply that they are not recent, and thus I doubt you're used to it.

    If I had some mod points to hand out, you know where I would be putting them for this inciting lie.

    - John

  8. Re:Java never mattered by g0at · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    He's an asshole. But more to the point, he's likely now laughing masturbatorily at the fact that people like you and me are responding to his childishness.

  9. Re:Java never really mattered, Taco? Ouch by pdusen · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Why the hell did I get modded flamebait? I was making a joke about the AC, for christ's sake.