Sun to Opensource Java and GPL it

November 12, 2006 By

This will be announced tomorrow morning. Simon Phipps, Sun’s Java guy, just IM’ed me the news.

SANTA CLARA, CALIF., — November 13, 2006 — Sun Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ: SUNW), the creator and leading advocate of Java(TM) technology, Monday will announce it is releasing its implementations of Java technology as free software under the GNU General Public License version two (GPLv2). Available today, are the first pieces of source code for Sun’s implementation of Java Platform Standard Edition (Java SE) and a buildable implementation of Java Platform Micro Edition (Java ME). Details are available at: at http://www.sun.com/opensource/java (on Monday morning). In addition, Sun is adding the GPLv2 license to Java Platform Enterprise Edition (Java EE), which has been available for over a year under the Common Development and Distribution License (CDDL) through Project GlassFish(TM) at http://glassfish.dev.java.net.

I wonder how Microsoft will respond.

UPDATE: Tim Bray has a lot more on this on his blog.

Filed Under: 1
  • http://www.bynkii.com/ John C. Welch

    Why, with the same enthusiasm they have been since their deal in 2004, which unleashed an unending stream of Microsoft products that have made interop between Windows and the Java/Sun world a snap.

  • http://www.bynkii.com/ John C. Welch

    Why, with the same enthusiasm they have been since their deal in 2004, which unleashed an unending stream of Microsoft products that have made interop between Windows and the Java/Sun world a snap.

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  • Nick

    Hey Robert, Tim Bray mentioned this on his blog early this evening. FYI. Pretty detailed post, too.

  • Nick

    Hey Robert, Tim Bray mentioned this on his blog early this evening. FYI. Pretty detailed post, too.

  • http://searchengines.wordpress.com/ searchengines

    Definite historical footnote in Programming History :-O

  • http://searchengines.wordpress.com/ searchengines

    Definite historical footnote in Programming History :-O

  • http://scobleizer.wordpress.com/ Robert Scoble

    Nick: thanks, I added that to my post here.

  • http://scobleizer.wordpress.com/ Robert Scoble

    Nick: thanks, I added that to my post here.

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  • http://members.shaw.ca/Limulus/ Limulus

    “I wonder how Microsoft will respond.”

    Maybe they’ll license .NET patents to some Linux distributor and… oh, wait :)

    With the implied threat of software patent lawsuits over Mono, its obvious what technology is going to become dominant in Linux land. Novell should have waited a few more days; in very short order you’re going to see most desktop distros bundling Java (it will be nice to get the Firefox Java plugin preinstalled in Ubuntu :)

    And unless MS is willing to add to the copyright commons that is the GPL (about as likely as Dracula munching on garlic and washing it down with holy water ;) they’re going to avoid Java like the plague.

    Expect a news release about how much better .NET is and reiterating how great the SUSE deal was as a result.

  • http://members.shaw.ca/Limulus/ Limulus

    “I wonder how Microsoft will respond.”

    Maybe they’ll license .NET patents to some Linux distributor and… oh, wait :)

    With the implied threat of software patent lawsuits over Mono, its obvious what technology is going to become dominant in Linux land. Novell should have waited a few more days; in very short order you’re going to see most desktop distros bundling Java (it will be nice to get the Firefox Java plugin preinstalled in Ubuntu :)

    And unless MS is willing to add to the copyright commons that is the GPL (about as likely as Dracula munching on garlic and washing it down with holy water ;) they’re going to avoid Java like the plague.

    Expect a news release about how much better .NET is and reiterating how great the SUSE deal was as a result.

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  • James Bailey

    Ha, as usual John C Welch nails it :)

  • James Bailey

    Ha, as usual John C Welch nails it :)

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