Open Source Java: Now Just a Question of When
In this vnunet article, Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz said (at the JavaOne conference in San Francisco) that open source Java is now a question of when and what license will be used to minimize fragmentation of the community. Open Source Java is moving closer to reality!
“It’s not a question of whether we’ll open source Java, now the question is how,” Schwartz told delegates in his opening keynote at the tradeshow.
By releasing the source code, Sun hopes to attract a new group of developers who previously refused to use the language because of the software license, Schwartz latter added.
The debate about open sourcing Java has been raging for years and in part was fuelled by IBM. Sun so far has resisted calls to release the code over concerns for fragmentation and forking.
In my previous blog, I reported that Java source has been available for the longest time but under restrictive terms. Certain companies like Blackdown and other licencees already have access to the full source code. The src.zip file in the JDK already contains some of the code for the Java class library (with some key missing bits). But, this new attempt is interesting as it appears that Sun will make the whole thing available. Will Sun use the CDDL it used in OpenSolaris?
Aside from soliciting advise from the community, maybe they should also study the lessons learned in OpenSolaris. A license too retrictive might limit the attractiveness of the project to open source developers and cooperation from big companies (who hire open source developers).
