Is Java ready to be open sourced!? at log4p

Is Java ready to be open sourced!?

Published by peter May 16th, 2006 in java.

Jonathan Schwarts (Sun’s chief executive) told his audience at JavaOne that Sun is planning to release the source code of the Java programming language. Major buzz all around… but… Java source code has been available for YEARS! Important to notice is that releasing source code does not equal open source.

However, during the speech Jonathan also mentioned the following:

If Sun goes down the path of open-source licensing Java, it would use an OSI (Open Source Initiative)-approved license, he added.

Yeah! Will we finally see it happening?

If so will it be a good thing for the java community? I’m not so sure of it; having had lot’s of troubles migrating code between certified Sun, IBM and BEA virtual machines I think open sourcing might only introduce more incompatible versions. Maybe I’ll be proven wrong, let’s hope so!