[appengine-java] [Perhaps OT] Oracle vs. Google : Java still a viable language?
Hi all, Some of you may consider this off-topic (apologies to those that think it is OT), but I think it's pertinent to generate this discussion: given Oracle's lawsuit against Google < http://bit.ly/bMEL6A >, is Java a viable programming language anymore? I think the threat of Oracle adversely affecting the Java community has just become more real. Motivation: I am at the early stages of implementing a web app on GAE using Java, but if I need to switch to Python, I shouldn't delay it any more. I understand that Java SE and EE are licensed differently from Java ME, nonetheless... Oracle's doesn't enjoy a very good reputation in the open source world, and I don't trust them, though up to this point it was just an intrinsic mistrust, without any firm reason behind it. Java development as a language has also been held up/very slow over the past few years. Oracle's stewardship only makes things more iffy (are those the correct spellings :-)?). What I like about Java SE: the fantastic tutorial (even today it can sometimes come in handy), javadoc, simplicity, no useless syntactic sugar (unlike everything designed by Microsoft). On the other hand, Java EE... is a morass... Anyway, what do you guys think? -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Google App Engine for Java" group. To post to this group, send email to google-appengine-j...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to google-appengine-java+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/google-appengine-java?hl=en.
Re: [appengine-java] [Perhaps OT] Oracle vs. Google : Java still a viable language?
> Motivation: I am at the early stages of implementing a web app on GAE > using Java, but if I need to switch to Python, I shouldn't delay it > any more. > Anyway, what do you guys think? IANAL but you asked so here goes. I think you are fine using java on GAE. My guess is that since appengine is a derivative of OpenJDK that the (SE) patent grant holds for appengine as long as it doesn't implement new core functionality which the OpenJDK does not. In such a case, I don't believe the patent grant holds. You'd have to read the grant more closely or an analysis of it to know whether only partially implementing it carries the grant. Even if Oracle were to argue partial implementation does not, I believe the GPL2 combined with a patent grant for that code means effectively that Oracle can not say what people do with the GPL2 code, only that new functionality may not carry the protection. So, were GAE to fork OpenJDK and implement new core java classes (this does not mean new classes using java but a re-implementation of java with new functionality), then it's possible that we may see patent issues. Given the issues with Android though, I suspect Google will stay in the clear and I do not believe the GAE SDK does this. That said, if you try to take the SDK jars and set up an equivalent of GAE that runs on your phone (note: I am not talking about an app on a phone that connects to GAE, I am talking about *running* a GAE instance on a mobile phone) then perhaps you may have trouble as Oracle reserved the rights to mobile devices for non-GPL versions of Java. Nobody would or could ever do that I think, and so am sure it won't ever be an issue. Don't listen to me though. Really don't. Shawn -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Google App Engine for Java" group. To post to this group, send email to google-appengine-j...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to google-appengine-java+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/google-appengine-java?hl=en.
