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Sun expands open-source Java plan
Sun Microsystems will begin releasing significant open-source Java components this year and also will extend the collaborative strategy to the gadget version of the software technology.
By the end of 2006, the server and software company will release the JavaC compiler and the Hotspot virtual machine, two key technology elements to run programs written in the Java programming language, said Laurie Tolson, vice president of developer products and programs.
The components are part of Java Standard Edition (SE), which runs on servers and desktop computers. In addition, Sun will release all of Java Micro Edition (ME), the version for gadgets such as mobile phones, by the end of this year, Tolson said at a meeting with reporters in San Francisco in conjunction with the LinuxWorld Conference and Expo.
Sun has long been lambasted by open-source fans as a proprietary company. The open-source Java effort, along with OpenSolaris, are the highest-profile elements of an aggressive program to reverse perception and reality.
Ultimately, Sun hopes to make allies out of programmers who have influence over the technology paying customers use. "We're trying to engage the community," Tolson said, adding that the company is seeking feedback about details such as licensing options at a Java forum Web site.
The full Java SE software package will be open-source software in the first half of 2007--probably the early part, Tolson said. However, Sun doesn't have rights to some elements such as the software to render fonts on a screen, so there will be proprietary modules that accompany the open-source software, she said.
Sun hasn't yet determined what license or licenses to use for open-source Java. However, for Glassfish, the open-source version of Java Enterprise Edition (EE) that Sun released in 2005, Sun chose the Community Development and Distribution License the company created. (Java EE consists of several higher-level components that require a Java SE foundation to run.)
Open-source advocates for years have pressured Sun to release Java's source code as an open-source project, but Sun refused, citing the concern that Java could "fork" into incompatible versions. But the imperative for open-source software is greater now, and forking no longer an overriding concern, Tolson said.
"It's evolution of the market as a whole. The demand for more open-source technologies has changed. And the community itself is more willing to help maintain its (Java's) compatibility," Tolson said.
For the most part, Java didn't fork, though variations in versions from BEA Systems, IBM and others raised some complications. But in the years it refused, developers turned their attention to other options.
In 2005, the Apache Software Foundation began Project Harmony to create an open-source version of Java SE. IBM, which was instrumental in helping Sun launch Java in the 1990s, joined Project Harmony weeks after it began.
"I think competition is a good thing," Tolson said, but Sun would prefer collaboration in this case. "We're hoping to engage enough with the community that they put their forces behind ours," she said.
Microsoft, after an ugly legal spat over its Java license, released a Java analog of its own: the C# programming language and .Net environment for running C# programs. While .Net lacks Java's wide availability on many different operating systems and processors, Microsoft released enough of the technology as an industry standard that Novell has released an open-source version, called Mono, that runs on Linux.
Numerous companies have licensed Java from Sun since it was released in 1995. Sun will continue with that program, Tolson said: "What they get is a productized version along with support."
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Message #215785
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Is this welcomed news for most?
I haven't given this a lot of thought, but for such a significant event I'm surprised at the low response on this thread. Compare this with the Anti-Ruby flame baiting and you'll see what I mean.
Personally, I'm not sure that the average Java shop wants this type of responsibility. After all one of the percieved benefits of Java is that it's and backed controlled by a "leading" vendor. This is a significant selling point when you consider the FUD factor present in a lot of organisations.
It will be interesting to see how the Java community (both developers and other vendors) respond to this news in the comming months.
Paul.
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Message #215800
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Re: Is this welcomed news for most?
Average Joe shop does not have to accept or take any responsibility. Just like the Joe Shop doesn't have to take responsibility for Solaris or the Sun Java App Server 9.
You can get those "commerical" offerings in digestable chunks with support and the whole thing. The fact that they're based on OSS projects is a detail of implementation.
Nobody wants a broken Java. Sun doesn't, IBM doesn't, even MS doesn't want it any more. There's no win for them there.
What folks want are better Javas for their applications, whether that's a hard core 16 CPU super server Java version, or a lighter weight, "share the classloaders", "launch my desktop apps lickety split" version.
It all depends on Sun and how they choose to license and set the community up.
It will not surprise me to see it come out GPL'd with a shared copyright agreement for committers to the core Sun project. It may come out CDDL, but that all depends on whether they feel they have any real revenue at stake in the embedded market.
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Message #215848
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Re: Sun expands open-source Java plan
I think that open sourcing Java will mean very little for developers
tomorrow. Very few are really that interested in doing anything
with the source. But
Short term it will make Java much more acceptable in
the open source community.
Long term it adds credibility to Java. If something
really bad happen to SUN, then Java would be out of
reach for predators.
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Message #215871
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Re: Sun expands open-source Java plan
Short term it will make Java much more acceptable in the open source community.
Oh, I thought Java was already very much accepted in the open source communities. At least it would seem so by the enormous amount of ongoing open source projects.
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Message #215874
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Re: Sun expands open-source Java plan
PSre: I think that open sourcing Java will mean very little for developers tomorrow.
It will give the ability to redistribute JDK and consequently it will give the ability to install/update java out of the box on linux/unix(read FreeBSD) servers.
Right now to install java5.0 on Fedora Core Linux you have to do so many steps as if you are windows l..user.
You have to go to sun site, find jdk, press agreed button,wait wait wait, install, press agreed button again and repeat same process you should do on every server each time new release of jdk is out.
Also you should track each jdk release to install it in time, and of course half of administrators don't do it reducing security of their servers (thanks God java is 10 times robust than php/ruby and other on crutches technologies ).
new licence will allow install jdk with
yum/apt-get(other package manager you like) command
compare previously mentioned install process with:
yum install jdk5 - to install
and
yum update - to update (and of course this could be run from cron, that means NO manual updates).
PS And of course it will help to spread java applications without pain (please, download and install jre from...).
--Mark
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Message #215959
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Re: Sun expands open-source Java plan
Oh, I thought Java was already very much accepted in the open source communities. At least it would seem so by the enormous amount of ongoing open source projects.
There are a some skepticism about Java in many open source
circles.
Those that write open source java is obviously pro both
open source and Java.
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Message #216048
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Re: Sun expands open-source Java plan
It will give the ability to redistribute JDK and consequently it will give the ability to install/update java out of the box on linux/unix(read FreeBSD) servers.
I thougth that problem wal already solved some time ago.
http://www.theserverside.com/news/thread.tss?thread_id=39819
No, it is not solved yet. RedHat and many other vendors will not add jre under current license to their distos.
Only Ubuntu (which has partnership with Sun) accepts this licences.
--Mark
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