The Inquirer – Monday 13 November 2006:
SUN MICROSYSTEMS will announce today that its Java language, contrary to the prediction of many pundits, will be offered as pure “Free Software” -as Richard Stallman would say “free as in freedom”- under a GPL version two licence.
Ponytailed CEO Jonathan Schwartz will announce the ground-breaking move in a webcast to be held later at 9:30am Pacific Time. Both Java SE -used on desktops – and Java ME – used on mobile phones and PDAs- will be included. The server-side Java, or Java EE will be available both under the GPL version two licence and the same Common Development and Distribution Licence (CDDL) that Sun has used until now.
The Java Development Kit – including the javac compiler – will also be part of the open sauce release, and with all political and philosophical barriers removed, Sun expects every linux distro to embrace Java, or in the words of Rich Green “Sun will be working closely with distributors of the GNU/Linux operating system, who will soon be able to include the JDK as part of the open source repositories that are commonly included with GNU/Linux distributions”.
So when will the Java Bikini be open sourced?
Open SAUCE
how bout open SORES
“Sun expects every Linux distro to embrace Java…”
There’s a statement dying to be disproven.
How about “ballsy” and “a good reason to party”.
I still like Java despite the deluge of newer competitors (Perl, Ruby, Python, etc).
May the Schwartz be with us!!!
Java is still a performance dog. I generally turn it off when at all possible.
Hey Venom Monger,
When did Perl become a ‘newer competitor’? I am pretty sure it was out long before Java, ie 1987 for Perl versus 1991 for Java!
When did Perl become a ‘newer competitor’?
Uhhhh…. I meant “newer to me”. Or something.
I guess it’s my predjudice showing. Perl is one I never warmed up to for some reason.
First off I think its excellent that it is going GPL.
And, by the way, Java (in its entirety) does *NOT compare to ruby and perl or python). The main thing about Java is not that it is a computer language, but that it is a “virtual machine”, that can run a program on any platform that virtual machine is ported to. And the cool thing about this virtual machine, its got lots of “libraries” built it in, including networking, disk I/O, and screen/mouse input out.
Java, the language, happens to be the most popular way of writing programs for the Java Virtual Machine. Lame naming convention on Sun’s part.
The only real (current) equivalent to Java is the .NET platform whose virtual machine runs under windows (though an older .NET VM is available for other platforms via Mono project). Microsoft has a number of languages (VB, C# etc) that write to the .NET vm.
Yes, you can do lots of what Java can do in the other scripting languages mentioned, but for us programmers, its the library that matters most, not the actual language. You could write (or buy) your own, for example, ZIP file functionality in whatever language you favor, but with Java, you know its built in.
Lou – python supports a lot of that too, though the lib is to the same vast scale as java.
Java isn’t bad, it’ just not great at what a lot of people use it for, much like flash, and it also has a lot of awful programmers and designers using it… much like flash.
I second the notion of the Java bikini becoming open cource. Giggity Giggity.
2. I was only joking about you using iJames, are you sticking with that? Steve will probably sue you.
Gregory: Have nothing against python, but its library support is varied among the platforms and distributions. The thing about Java is that if there is a Java port to the platform, then it supports everything in the VM (at least on a theoretical basis). The limitations then become hardware limitations as opposed to software or platform ones.
There will never be a Java implementation on DOS, because DOS does not have networking, but there is one for Python.
As to: “Java isn’t bad, it’ just not great at what a lot of people use it for, much like flash, and it also has a lot of awful programmers and designers using it… much like flash.”
The vast majority of the programming world is full of crappy programming, based on crappy designs, done by crappy programmers. Computer languages have little to do with it.
Look at this blog/website. I will enter this comment, press the “Say It” button, be taken to another screen to enter the ‘dummy’ text to prove I’m not spam, and be left at a screen that says “thank you for the comment”.
Could the anti-spam item be on the “leave a comment” screen? Could the thank you for the comment automatically bring me back to the original place in the blog?
Of course. Just poor design, things kludged together without regard to what’s best for the reader/user, just what’s easiest for the programmer.
#10 – iDon’t Know
Does gpl mean if I were to create somthing with a free java, can I sell it? Do i have to pay royalties? Or can I only give it away. Whats up with it.
“Does gpl mean…”
The GPL grants the recipients of a computer program the following rights:
See also the Frequently Asked Questions about the GNU GPL.