Dalibor Topic wrote: > On Tue, May 16, 2006 at 10:46:55AM -0700, Geir Magnusson Jr wrote: >> I was at the J1 keynote this morning hoping to hear news about Sun >> open-sourcing Java. >> >> First, they announced some kind of distribution-like agreement with >> Ubuntu, so that any Debian-based distro can easily install Java. It >> wasn't clear if they really are going to distribute Ubuntu w/ Java or >> just make it easy to install via apt. I guess it's a new license for > > Since I am not at JavaOne, and thus out of reach of catapulted T-shirts, > here is the gist of it: > > SPOILER ALERT > This post contains sarcasm and pokes mild fun at Sun. You can still hit > 'd', if you can't stand someone making fun of Sun's antics. > SPOILER ALERT > > Basicially, Sun decided to fix the more wacky parts of the binary > license that made it impossible for distributions to ship the JDK > without having to ram down Sun's proprietary software down the throats of > their users, and leave them no choice of a free software alternative. > > After ~5 years of Debian pointing out the obvious issues[1] of that > one, Sun eventually figured out that it may not be such a great idea, > after all. That blazingly fast display of the ability to listen follows > Schwartz's so accurately titled blog entry "Java, and Survival of the Most > Adaptable". E pur si muove! :) > >> their binaries. This is good news - one of the motivations of Harmony >> was to help make Java a first-class citizen on Linux, and this is a >> solid step in that direction. > > Sorta. Kinda. It's basically the first step Sun made to get off their > appreciation for applying Microsoft's Windows OEM licensing concepts to > the redistributors of the JDK/JRE binaries. They could have done a lot > better than with the license they ended up with. They could have also > done worse, I guess, given Sun's legal divisions' masterworks like the > "Read Only" license. > > It's a huge step for Sun, no wonder it took 5 years to remove a handful > of clauses from the BCL. :) > >> Second.... I'm not sure how to describe this. When Jonathan Schwartz >> (the CEO of Sun) asked Rich Green (the new EVP of software) if he was >> going to open-source Java, the answer was "the question isn't if, but >> how..." (or something like that) >> >> I suppose that means they have made some sort of decision to do it, but >> have no idea how or when. > > Well, if you've seen Jonathan Schwartz pompously 'open source Java3D' a > few years ago, and then seen that after the hype cleared up, it meant > that Sun was keeping Java3D proprietary, and just releasing a bunch of > coding examples under a anti-nuclear BSD license, you know what to > expect: more of the same. > > My guess from Sun's past performance pseudo-open-sourcing Java3D, JAI, > etc. is that Schwartz will 'open source Java' in 2010, with huge fanfares, > and when one looks at the small print, that will actually mean that > you'll be able to get the examples from the Swing trail, and nothing > else, under the anti-nuclear BSD license. :) > >> So, while many of us knew that Sun will OSS Java eventually, it's still >> good news, and it's nice to see that the Java ecosystem is moving slowly >> but surely to openness :) > > For a suitable definition of 'openness', which Sun has not figured out > yet ... so no new license announcement just yet. :) > > Nevertheless, I propose the name Java 'Openness' License for the upcoming > wonderlicense at JAvaOne 2010. :)
Here are the facts: http://packages.debian.org/changelogs/pool/non-free/s/sun-java5/sun-java5_1.5.0-06-1/copyright This is a great step in the widespread use of java in the linux world (apt-get install geronimo, anyone?) but it is no step in the direction of open sourcing java. the article at http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=3048 (Simon, you still around here?) claims that this license is equivalent to https://java3d.dev.java.net/jdl-java3d.pdf and that the debian package is called "sun-java-jre" but claims are bogus. The package is called "sun-java5" and it is available in the 'unstable' debian flavor. But I agree with Dalibor, "eppur si muove" ;-) -- Stefano. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Terms of use : http://incubator.apache.org/harmony/mailing.html To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
