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Blog postings by Andrew Cowie about Open Source and Software Development
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blogs > andrew > software > free-java > trial-balloons
Wed, 08 Nov 2006
Trial Balloons
Well it’s all over the net now. Sun just might actually release Java under the GPL.
Before we get all excited, I would observe that this article, from Doctor Dobb’s Journal (ordinarily quite a respected publication) cites “several industry sources”. That’s not exactly a convincing reference. And even if it is hard news, my guess is that this is just an official trial balloon to see what industry reaction will be. Fair enough.
Now that I’ve been sufficiently pessimistic, listen to this:
The company is very close to announcing that it will put the mobile (ME) and standard (SE) editions of the Java platform into the GNU General Public License (GPL), with the Java Enterprise Edition and GlassFish reference implementation to follow
They then quote a developer as saying “I think Sun realizes that their other pseudo-open source efforts don’t work” — which is very true. Community reaction to CDDL has always been weak. It’s just too bloody complicated.
The article goes on to say:
Offering Java only under the GPL would have a cataclysmic effect on the software industry, forcing Java platform developers to freely release their contributions if they continue developing around the platform’s GPL code. … A more likely scenario is that Sun would offer dual licensing for Java
According to a Sun executive … dual-licensing is the plan. Sun will have open-source and commercial licenses, differentiated by their IP indemnifications
Awesome.
I noted in an article about Open Source Java a few months ago that Sun had indeed made it quite clear that this time they were listening and that they had made a real effort to get connected with the Free Java community. So if this is a trial balloon, then everyone who cares about software freedom needs to express their support and to continue encouraging Sun to choose this course. And if this is for real, then wow, and congratulations to Sun!
AfC
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