On Tue, Feb 17, 2004 at 02:10:36PM +0800, Joel Realubit wrote: > I guess what's stopping Sun is the prospect that, if they open up their > Java specifications, Microsoft will run away with their own Java > implementation (again).
Isn't Microsoft already doing this? Cough...cough... C# and .NET ..cough. > while i'm not sure if specs can be "GPL'd" (can it?), No, they can't. Nobody is forced to follow specifications anyhow, unless a binding legal agreement that comes up when you obtain the specs forces you to do so. This is what Sun was afraid of the first time, that a de facto Java standard with gratuitous incompatibilities introduced by MS would appear, and they smacked Microsoft good in court for it. Who benefited more in the long run though remains to be seen. > if they suddenly release their JDK and JRE's as open-source projects, > then i dont think microsoft will be able to steal enough thunder to > dominate Java development as a whole. Why would they want to dominate Java development at all? Sun already smacked them for trying their old tricks a few years ago, so now they've stolen several key ideas from Java and J2EE and are incorporating them into the .NET framework. This whole thing is beginning to remind me of Netscape vs. Microsoft and the browser wars. If Sun later decides to open source Java, it'll wind up looking like Mozilla does today, but Sun may very well reap more benefits from doing so than Netscape does, as Java and its associated ideas are far more than just a browser. The earlier they do it the greater their benefits will be. -- Philippine Linux Users' Group (PLUG) Mailing List [EMAIL PROTECTED] (#PLUG @ irc.free.net.ph) Official Website: http://plug.linux.org.ph Searchable Archives: http://marc.free.net.ph . To leave, go to http://lists.q-linux.com/mailman/listinfo/plug . Are you a Linux newbie? To join the newbie list, go to http://lists.q-linux.com/mailman/listinfo/ph-linux-newbie
