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Java goes open source

JORDAN ROBERTSON

Associated Press

Latest comment posted at 10:38 AM EDT 14/11/06

Sun Microsystems announcement represents one of largest additions of computer code to the open-source community; marks major shift for company that fiercely protected source code ...Read the full article

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  1. F T from Toronto, Canada writes: Java is dead. Long live Java!
    Thanks to Sun Microsystems for making the most powerful, most capable Java programming language available to all. Java powers your web banking application, your blackberry and lots of things in the middle. Long live Java!
  2. Normand LaBine from Winnipeg, Canada writes: I have to wonder what the Clintonian Democrats think about that. They went on a rampage to get the Software Industry into the Political Donations game. They threw Microsoft, Sun, and others into 'Justice Department' driven suits of all kinds! The industry never felt they'd ever need political 'help', so they didn't donate to either Lobbyists or Parties, other than a token $500,000 ALL TOGETHER. By the end of the suits, the Industry was paying out huge Lobbyist fees, even bigger partisan donations and equally to both major parties. And here, good old SUN takes their pet weasle off the 'Private Stock' product list. Well, I can't wait for the next 'Donation Strategy'. Europe is still milking it. Now the Telcos are getting a taste of it in Canada. No lobby funds, no income trusts, maybe a slow run through CRTC. Sharpen up guys! Our Neocons had good teachers. And the rest of us? We get the scraps! Canadian citizens have no political voice, other than the one-time orgasmic vote whenever some PM thinks he can win better. Even Chretien called it 3.5 years after! We just pay the freight. The industries pay the glitz! We need longterm substantial legislation and they need more cash-cows for their parties.

    Ah well, the pendulum is swinging all over the world. Its a matter of a few more years before we hit our 'Enough!' limit.

    SUN went as far as they could. Imagine getting the Corvair-kid onside to pressure Microsoft to cave? The Virtual Machine died a SUN-Driven death, and MS came out bigger and fatter.

    The Democrats lost every major political arm in the Empire. President, Congress, Senate, even many governorships. Hope they took notes on bad backroom gamesmanship. The companies did. They moved out!
  3. J Smith from Vancouver, Canada writes: Let's be honest, most people could care less that Java powers their Blackberry or other devices. If Java never existed, these devices would still be created just with some other programming language.
  4. i. ignatius from Mt. Pleasant, Canada writes: Great news, with a twinge of danger ...

    With the Java system now open source, what's stopping malicious programmers from examining the code base, determining weaknesses in the Java virtual machine system, and exploiting those weaknesses? For any business that puts their trust into the Java platform for their applications (desktop, BlackBerry, web based, etc.), this announcement may mean future problems in stability of the platform. When Sun closely guarded the platform and controlled its evolution, if faults occurred, at least we could blame Sun. Now who will we blame? At least with Microsoft, we know where the buck stops, and who's at fault! :-)

    On the other hand, with Java now being open source, it does indeed open the doors to future computer software developers, to learn about techniques to create portable software, techniques to eliminate dependency on one single vendor of an operating system, and so forth. Kudos to Sun for being open in that fashion. I just hope that those that learn from the open source Java, won't turn their backs on this gift, and exploit it for malicious purposes.
  5. Johnny Choy from Vancouver, Canada writes: Good for Sun!! They did the right thing...this ensures that their creation will be in the mainstream in the minds of programmers for the years to come...I'm glad they did it...or else be another open source code better than java will come over and take the lead...
  6. Randal Oulton from Canada writes: Kewl, maybe the 'open-source community' will work on Java so it doesn't blow up my computer all the time.
  7. Timothy Nessus from Somewhere..., Canada writes: Like SUN had ANY options... yeah... They KNOW that MS has the legal right (and it is actually doing it) to develop their OWN version of Java (as per recent judgement).. IF Java would NOT get Opensourced, it would have gone the Netscape way... down the toilet, overrun by MS's version (which is CLOSED SOURCED). MS has the upper hand because THEY control the desktop. Gee... EVEN I know this... how come G&M does not????
  8. B Johnson from Canada writes: This is good. A bit late but good nonetheless. i. ignatius from Mt. Pleasant don't worry about malicious hackers, there are more constructive hackers than the alternative. Most of the malicious ones are script kiddies that get shut down within hours in the open source community. They don't even attack it because they can't get through the UNIX based, iron clad security that is open source. I've been using Linux Slackware since 1999 and the only time my computer goes down is when I bring it down myself or a power failure occurs. It's the only reliable O/S by far. As you state, this will open the doors to a myriad of inventions in the JAVA programming community. Any corporate and gov't. computer system has back end LINUX servers for a reason. The same reason I won't use anything but. It's all good news.

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