On Tue, 16 May 2006, Fernando Cassia wrote: | I give Sun credit for two things... | | 1. preventing polluting of the platform a la J++. | | "In a June 20, 1996, memo entitled "windows & internet issues" Microsoft's | then-VP Paul Maritz | explained<http://www.courttv.com/archive/trials/microsoft/legaldocs/doj_suit.html>that | it was necessary for the firm to "fundamentally blunt Java/AWT | momentum" in order to "protect our core asset Windows ? the thing we get | paid $s for". | | 2. Continuing pouring $$$ into its development, despite the screams from the | financial gurus telling McNealy and co that it was not "generating money" | for the company.
Hear, hear! | | ...but their software strategy and their contributions to the open source | camp over the years is something worth praising, not ridiculing... ... and hear! I personally wonder what _full_ open-sourcing of java actually would accomplish? How do you want Sun to do this? Slam a Apache-license on the code, and say "okay, folks, here it is - we're off"? I believe that it could fragment into a million different, half-abandoned projects without any proper steering - who is to decide which new method to put into java.lang.String? How would compatibility between implementations be defined? Open Source java wouldn't be the same if there wasn't some standard to follow and adhere to. If this "standard" is defined rather more by one company than the rest - what is the real problem? As long as this one company still pours a bunch of money on the steering and progress of the project, isn't this better than one dozen open source projects that themselves would have to decide between them which new method, or worse, which new API, to include? These questions should also be answered by the folks that continually scream about "OSS'ing Java": may we not risk that the whole java-thing falls apart at the seams if this actually happens? Who should, for example, run the JCP? In my opinion, we, as in "the folks that aren't fully in MS's pockets", should be somewhat grateful for Sun's continual backing and support of java, while still try to hold them somewhat in check to not lock it in or away, but rather open it up for full, working, open source alternatives (Like with the Swing issue, where they apparently pretty much aren't allowing for a proper alternative, which should be fixed). PS: How do you folks feel about Tiger's development model? PPS: Why does Sun really bother to pour money into Java at all? The reason, I've come to understand, _was_ that they then could sell a bunch of their big-iron boxes to companies when the small intel-servers couldn't cope with a success of their developed java code. That argument is gone some years ago - so what's really in it for Sun, other than prestige? Regards, Endre. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Terms of use : http://incubator.apache.org/harmony/mailing.html To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
