I hope to be able to clarify some of what was said in the episode. FYI I'm no longer at Sun. In any case as a blogger in the SE team I didn't have any official coaching on what could or could not be said on my blog. However the reason for not using the phrase "Java 7" is very simple -- until there is a platform JSR assigned for Java 7 there is no such thing as Java 7. For all values of 'n' in Java n there must be a matching platform JSR defining the spec for that release of Java. There were times I used the phrase "oh-what-the-heck-lets-call- it-java-7".
OpenJDK is open source under GPL and IIRC you can build it today without requiring binary plugs. Further there is effort from the IcedTea underway to integrate IcedTea patches upstream into OpenJDK. And there are other efforts such as the BSD porting project (including Mac OS X) etc. Whether an implementation can be called 'Java' is a separate matter from the open source nature of the OpenJDK. The name 'Java' is a trademark and there regularly trademark issues around open source projects. For example why does CentOS have to remove all of Red Hat's trademarks? It's because those trademarks are owned by Red Hat. For example remember the issue with iceweasel versus firefox? IIRC That's partly about the Mozilla Foundation rules about the use of the Firefox trademark. Ubuntu has gotten careful about the Ubuntu trademark, for example. Likewise Sun as the trademark owner gets to choose how the trademark Java is used, who can use it, etc. One of the steps to getting permission to use the trademarks is to pass the TCK for the Java platform. (a.k.a. the JCK) The JCK is most clearly not under an open source license, and the JCK is a separate project from the OpenJDK project. The issue with the Harmony project is about whether/how/if/when they can get a license to the TCK so they can certify Harmony. One way I think the confusion came in is -- 3 yrs ago when Jonathan S & Rich G were on stage with their "it's not a matter of if" dance, Jonathan asked "when will we open source Java". The news coverage afterward was "Sun will open source Java". I'm sorry, Sun didn't open source Java. Sun open sourced an implementation, OpenJDK, which can be used to create Java implementations. What would it mean to "open source Java"? Java is a specification, a community of people collaboratively defining specifications and reference implementations etc. Would it mean open sourcing the JCP? What would it mean to open source a standards body? --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Java Posse" group. To post to this group, send email to javaposse@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to javaposse+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/javaposse?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
