Sun will open source JAVA within 30-60 days

[greggh]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/infoworld/20061 ... orld/83138

Demonstrating a perhaps more aggressive path than anticipated, Sun Microsystems is set to announce the open-sourcing of the core Java platform within 30 to 60 days, Sun President and CEO Jonathan Schwartz said at the Oracle OpenWorld conference on Wednesday morning.

The core platform encompasses the Standard Edition of Java, and it will be offered via an open source format under an OSI (Open Source Initiative)-approved license, likely the same one used for Sun's open source Solaris OS.

I think we all knew this was coming, but I didn't think Sun would do it this fast.

[snarkout]

Yay. So it still won't ship with anal distros. The fact that it will be open is awfully nice, though.

[Patrick]

This is good news. I know the Free software people will not be satisfied but what the heck. Part of my job is java programming so I don't have a problem with this. Anything that gets in the way of slowing down/competing with C# and .Net is o.k. in my book.

[Tsuroerusu]

I know the Free software people will not be satisfied but what the heck.

Let's just wait and see, Sun has not said what license they are gonna use yet. When they announced that they were gonna open source Java, they clearly stated that the GPL were on the discussion board, they didn't rule it out, let's wait for this to play out before we form our opinions.

[Patrick]

let's wait for this to play out before we form our opinions.

From the press release:
"The core platform encompasses the Standard Edition of Java, and it will be offered via an open source format under an OSI (Open Source Initiative)-approved license, likely the same one used for Sun's open source Solaris OS."

Open Solaris is licensed under the CDDL:
http://www.opensolaris.org/os/licensing/cddllicense.txt

Which the FSF does not like:
"This is a free software license which is not a strong copyleft; it has some complex restrictions that make it incompatible with the GNU GPL. It requires that all attribution notices be maintained, while the GPL only requires certain types of notices. Also, it terminates in retaliation for certain aggressive uses of patents. So, a module covered by the GPL and a module covered by the CDDL cannot legally be linked together. We urge you not to use the CDDL for this reason.

Also unfortunate in the CDDL is its use of the term "intellectual property"."


Agreed, lets wait and see how this plays out.

[Tsuroerusu]

From the press release:
"The core platform encompasses the Standard Edition of Java, and it will be offered via an open source format under an OSI (Open Source Initiative)-approved license, likely the same one used for Sun's open source Solaris OS."

Yeah, but that's just some Yahoo News dickhead's opinion or guess, people expected Nintendo to just die when they launched the DS and showed off the Wii, but it went in the completely opposite direction, they are kicking Sony's ass in the handheld market, and the excitement over the Wii that I have seen have been HUGE, and for good reasoning I think (Yes I am getting in line on launch day to buy a Wii! ).

Agreed, lets wait and see how this plays out.

Maybe we should get some betting going here

[Gomer_X]

Any OSI approved license is OK with me.

As far as Sun actually doing this, I'll believe it when I see it. If they would just DO IT instead of whining and posturing for years, it would help their reputation a lot.

[Jza]

Any OSI approved license is OK with me.

As far as Sun actually doing this, I'll believe it when I see it. If they would just DO IT instead of whining and posturing for years, it would help their reputation a lot.

I remember there was a lot of problems validating Sun's Open Source license, basically they said that this license wasn't open enough.

I wonder which license is really going to be dictated.