No sooner did Jonathan Schwartz, Sun's dynamic president and COO, announce earlier this week the imminent open-sourcing of Solaris - from Shanghai, where Sun was unleashing its next wave of product and pricing innovation at its first-ever Asia-based SunNetwork conference - than another indication has been given of an intent to open up a Sun technology.
Java, says the well-respected Java evangelist Raghavan 'Rags' Srinivas, will inevitably follow.
The discussion has been running for several months, indeed years.
In February of this year, responding to Scott McNealy's remarks at Sun's February 2004 analyst meeting, Eric S. Raymond - President of the Open Source Initiative - wrote an Open Letter to McNealy. The letter ended:
"Mr. CEO, tear down that wall. You have millions of potential allies out here in the open-source community who would love to become Java developers and users if it didn't mean ceding control of their future to Sun. If you're serious about being a friend of open source, if you're serious about preparing Sun for the future we can all see coming in which code secrecy and proprietary lock-in will no longer be viable strategies, prove it. Let Java go."
But long before that, in June 2003, James Gosling - a co-inventor of Java, now CTO of Sun's Developer Platforms Group - expressed hesitancy:
"I am certainly one of the people who would love to make it open-source. But it's hard for two reasons. One is that open-source ways of dealing with software work really well so long as you get this sort of collegial atmosphere. If you happen to have a bully on the block who is really strong, it really doesn't work. We have this history of having been victimized, and there are lots of people who are nervous about that."
And in February 2004 when IBM wrote an Open Letter to Sun inviting them to collaborate on an IBM-Sun open-source implementation of Java, Jonathan Schwartz - then still EVP of Sun's Softare Group - commented:
"We looked at the request, and our first question was, 'That seems a little bonky. Could you explain what it means?'"
So the news from 'Rags' Srinivas that it will happen is certain to cause a new surge of interest in Sun and in Java among software developers worldwide, even though he didn't specify when - replying to that question, in an interview yesterday, "at some point it will happen...it might be today, tomorrow or two years down the road."
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jimcap wrote: Every one
who has ever done some
serious Java work will
(or should) agree with
most of the remarks made
sofar. Sad but true. Yet,
Java is still growing
becoming better with
every release, it''s
future looks better than
ever.
Is that a paradox?
JavaRocks wrote: It makes
perfect sense if Sun is
doing this for the same
reason Apple open sources
the internals of Mac OS
X.
Allowing their users
access to the source to
Solaris-- even if the
license is "poisoned" to
prevent it from being
mixed with GPLed code--
would help Sun''s users.
They would be able to
adapt the OS to strange
fine-tuned uses and
arcane hardware, or more
easily debug kernel
plugins. A shop that
might otherwise have gone
"well, we like solaris,
but we don''t want to be
limited to sparc and x86,
so we''ll go with linux"
might be dissuaded.
Allowing their users
access to the source to
the JVM-- even under a
GPL-incompatible
license-- would do the
same. It would allow
Sun''s users to port the
JVM to those few
platforms Sun doesn''t
support yet, or more
easily debug JNI
software.
This is definitely ...
ryen wrote: Are there any
"success stories" of
proprietary software
going open source? i
guess the definition of
"success story" is
subject to opinion:
Success for the releaser?
(Sun)
Success for the
community?
atehrani wrote: I think
Java is fine the way it
is. Open Sourcing it will
not bring any
improvements and actually
might hurt Java. Name one
advantage for Java going
open source?
eeg3 wrote: Of course the
opening of Java's source
will be neat for "the
community," but it
doesn't seem like a very
smart business move for
Sun. There might be some
temporary benefits in
publicity, but no real
benefits in the long run.
Atleast if they keep it
closed, they'll retain
some control, and have
the ability to possibly
make money off of it.
However, i'm sure they
know this, and that's why
it's not being released
now, and it probably
never will be, unless
they somehow conjure up a
way to release the source
and retain complete
control of it.
...Which seems impossible
to me.
javacowboy wrote: Call me
paranoid or even a
conspiracy theorist, but
what if Microsoft is
behind this? What if
Microsoft, as part of
their settlement with
Sun, asked them to
open-source Java so that
they could embrace and
extend it, and pollute it
as they tried to before?
How much do you want to
bet that Java will be
open sourced under a
BSD-style license, and
not the GPL.
mrfibbi wrote: I think
that people who worry
themselves over the
ominous and supposedly
inevitable
"fragmentation" really
need to take a second
look at things.
1-There are numerous
examples of open source
programming languages
that have remained
centralized and
unfragmented, like Perl
and Python.
2-Because java depends on
a uniform standard and
VM, any attempts to split
off or fork the source
tree will die miserably
due to a lack of
compatibility with the
massive pool of existing
code and classes.
3-In fact, there is
actually LESS chance of
fragmentation when Java
lies in the hands of the
public, first because it
means that no one will
start up a competing
"openjava", a venture
that would almost
certainly lead to
incompatibilities, and
second because, as the
example of the death of
xfree86 shows, too much
central an...
kjj wrote: The most
annoying part of Java on
Freebsd is that you are
required to build the
thing yourself due to all
the restrictions. This
wouldn't be such a
problem but the Java
libary gets larger all
the time and gets to be a
bigger chore just to
install it. As I
understand it this is due
to licensing that only
allows the Java on
Freebsd developers to
release patches with must
be applied to the base
source downloaded from
Sun. If Java used a true
open source license then
this would no longer be a
problem, because there
would be no restrictions
on redistribution of
either modified source or
binaries built from the
modified version.
Tarantolato wrote: Sun
has this spooky, almost
pathological, fear of
forking. I guess you can
attribute it to fallout
from the proprietary Unix
wars of the 80s and 90s.
Thing is, those were
a direct consequence of
proprietary
licensing. Everyone
took the "historical
Unix" code, put it in
their own systems, and
then chugged along
incompatibly, with the
new code hidden. The
difference with GPL'd
code is that if you use
it, you have to publish
it. So your rivals can
copy or emulate
incompatible features
easily.
GPL projects can fork,
but the forks can
dovetail back into one
another. Proprietary
projects that fork stay
forked.
Vengeful weenie wrote:
Why is it that so many
people feel the need to
jump on Sun & Java? There
are pleny of companies
that have given less to
their respecive
industries.
Yes, so Sun has decided
to OS Java, a step that
they said they wanted to
do a while ago, but
didn't want to see the
language pulled apart
while it was immature.
Well, if they feel it's
time then great. They did
start it up, and pay for
a ton of development, and
do a lot of promotion.
Did they benefit? You
bet. They are a company,
and after all hopeful
dreams alone never get
you anywhere. BSD, RPC,
NFS, Java -- I can't wait
to see what they come up
with next. The're not the
only ones with great
solutions, but they have
a good track record.
Kudos.
PointofInformation wrote:
If you develop in java,
you don't have to pay sun
any money. Sun uses what
they call a "protected
source" license, which
basically says, "Anyone
can use this, but only we
can make changes, or
release new
distributions."
Open sourcing java
wouldn't really hurt
them, and god knows java
could use it.
tutwabee wrote: This will
be a great thing for Sun
and the open-source
community, but only as
long as the source is
licensed under a
non-restricting license.
I don''t think that is
going to happen though.
If it happen, all I can
say is "rejoice!" :)
leshert wrote: It''s not
nearly as big a deal as
open-sourcing, say,
Solaris, simply because
it''s not going to wreck
a primary revenue stream
for Java.
I''ve wondered for a
while where Sun makes
money from Java,
particularly enough to
recoup what they spend on
it. I can''t imagine it
affects sales of Solaris
boxes that much.
dekeji wrote: Sun has
been saying that they
will "somehow open source
Java" since 1996. Has it
happened? No. They
changed their mind.
Sun has also been saying
that they will "somehow
have Java standardized by
a standard body" since
1996. Has it happened?
No. They changed their
mind.
Sun like Java being owned
completely by them, and
they won''t change. What
they will do is that they
will fiddle with the Java
source license a little
an declare that it is now
"open source", just like
they created the "Java
community process" and
claim that it''s an "open
process".
You don''t have to worry
about Java forking: Sun
isn''t going to give up
control. They are going
to keep Java proprietary,
and they are not going to
"open source" it in any
sense anybody other than
they themselves would
recognize.
RAMMS+EIN wrote: Java is
a dream that never came
true:
1. Write once, run
everywhere is a myth,
because you need a good
VM and class libraries,
which are only available
for a few platforms.
2. The official
distribution is bloated
to the top and runs slow
even with JIT
compilation. Java
programs use lots of
memory. This makes Java
unnatractive even if you
can guaratee it will work
on your target system.
3. GUIs in Java are a
nightmare. AWT can be a
bitch to code for,
lacking many useful
components. Swing uses
"pure Java" widgets,
which are slow and don''t
fit well with the native
widgets on your system.
SWT ought to be better,
but is not included in
the distribution, so if
you want it, you need
more bloat.
4. High performance apps
are out. GUI apps are a
nightmare. What''s left?
Simple command line
utilities? Nah, much ...
leprasmurf wrote: I
don''t understand what
trouble they are having
with opening the source.
Isn''t as easy as
publishing the source
code?
I guess I can understand
the fear of losing the
"write once, run
anywhere" mentality, but
if that''s one of the
main attractions to the
language doesn''t it
stand to reason that
people won''t really veer
too far off?
bwy wrote: A person has
to ask - could the OSS
community ever have
produced Java? Could it
have produced a gem like
OS X?
OSS has the skillset,
some of the sharpest
folks on the planet. But
who is keeping them
coordinated? Who is the
CEO with a single,
cohesive vision?
Don''t get me wrong on
OSS here. It has produced
cool, big things like the
Linux Kernel, Gnome, KDE,
XFree86, etc., etc. All
wonderful pieces of a
puzzle that just doesn''t
seem to fit together
quite as well as they
need to when it comes to
building a complete OS
platform.
shaitand wrote: There
really is no value in sun
controlling java itself.
Sun owns the Java
brandname and wants to
exploit that, that is
their asset. If you want
proof, look at the Sun
Java Desktop which has
not the slightest thing
to do with Java.
If turned over to the
open source crowd, Java
will be powerful and
popular in no time. That
means the word Java will
be used all the time,
making Sun''s brand more
powerful.
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Mike Neil is general
manager for
virtualization strategy
in the Windows Server
Division at Microsoft.
Mike is focused on the
delivery of the Windows
virtualization
technology, including
Windows Server 2008
Hyper-V, Microsoft
Hyper-V Server and
Virtual PC 2007. Mike
also directs the tec
From Application
Virtualization to Xen, a
round-up of the
virtualization themes &
topics being discussed in
NYC June 23-24, 2008 by
the world-class speaker
faculty at the 3rd
International
Virtualization Conference
& Expo being held by
SYS-CON Events in The
Roosevelt Hotel, in
midtown 
Red Hat is a trusted
open source provider.
Red Hat offers enterprise
customers a long-term
plan for building
infrastructures on the
quality and innovation of
open source. Combining
open source operating
system platform, Red Hat
Enterprise Linux,
together with
applications, management
IBM claims to have
created new species of
custom-built,
industry-standard,
Linux-based rack server
for Web 2.0 and Cloud
Computing companies with
massive data centers and
tens of thousands of
servers, like online
gaming, social networks,
search and Internet
firms. A relatively
limited 
