Is Sun Tone-Deaf?

Someone who is tone-deaf cannot truly distinguish individual musical notes. Without this ability, that person cannot effectively sing in harmony with others. Sun apparently is tone-deaf, as there seems to be no harmony with Apache these days.

And that makes sense from Sun’s business point of view. As I’ve pointed out in past blogs, Sun makes money on Java by selling the rights to distribute it with embedded products. Contrary to common opinion, Java’s not free -– just read the license details and you’ll see this.

Java is free for developers and for ISVs who develop applications that get installed on most servers and general-purpose computers. If your use of Java is considered an embedded use by Sun’s definition, you must pay Sun for the rights to distribute it with your device (or computer, or phone, or appliance, or whatever your product is).

"But didn’t they open-source Java?" you ask. Yes, under a GPL v2 license. With this license, and its copyleft clause, if you use it to build a product around, you must open-source (via the GPL license) your own source code as well. It’s the "viral effect" that many speak of. Not willing to do that? That’s okay. Sun will sell you the rights to distribute commercial Java.

Apache Harmony

Enter the Apache Harmony project. The Apache license is quite different than the GPL. There are no requirements to open-source code written to use an Apache-licensed product. Therefore, you can imagine that Sun’s largest Java licensees would just love to get their hands on an Apache-licensed (a.k.a. free) Java.

There is one small complication with this, which was pointed out in Apache’s open letter to Sun a few months ago, and Sun’s announcement regarding the Java TCK today: Apache doesn’t have the rights to the Java test compatibility kits to certify Harmony as a truly compliant version of Java. Without this, most customers won’t be willing to build their businesses around it. And if they did, it would be illegal, and Sun’s lawyers would be all over that.

Therefore, unless Sun gives Apache the rights to certify Harmony as Java, Harmony is dead in the water. After all, with no hopes of being able to legally use this version of Java, who’s going to continue to fund its development?

Is Sun the bad guy in this situation? Not necessarily. Java is their product -– their property. As an analogy, if a new sneaker maker (call them Acme Sneaker) introduced a sneaker that looked like a pair of Nike Shox, had the same Nike Swish on it, and was called Acme Shox, it’s reasonable to assume that a lawsuit would ensue. It’s also reasonable to assume that most people would consider Acme wrong to do this.

The only hope for Harmony is that Sun makes some concessions for Apache to continue with the project in some way. What this will be, and whether they do it at all, is yet to be seen. What’s your opinion on this? Do you care about Harmony, or is the OpenJDK ample for your needs? Respond to this blog below and let me know.

For more information, read the updated OpenJDK FAQ or the full press release.

Sun Releases New License for Java Compatibility Tests to the OpenJDK Community

Santa Clara, CALIF. -- August 9, 2007 -- Sun Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ: SUNW), today announced the immediate availability of the OpenJDK(TM) Community Technology Compatibility Kit (TCK) License. With this release, Sun is placing the means for certifying "Write Once, Run Anywhere(TM)" compatibility into the hands of the community.

This license is for the Java(TM) Compatibility Kit (JCK). The JCK is the Technology Compatibility Kit, a suite of tests, tools and documentation that determines whether or not an implementation complies with the Java Platform Standard Edition 6 specification. The evolving OpenJDK community understands that the value of their efforts, as well as the resulting open source Java technology implementations, will be greatly enhanced if these implementations can be certified as compatible.

Sun is licensing the JCK under terms that will permit contributors to fully comply with the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 (GPLv2), while giving the OpenJDK community the means to test for compatibility. The OpenJDK Community TCK License is available at: http://openjdk.java.net/legal/openjdk-tck-license.pdf.

"This announcement is another milestone in the release of Java technology as open source software. We're eager to see OpenJDK based implementations pass the JCK, so that we have compatible and free Java technology implementations available in GNU/Linux distributions everywhere,” said Rich Green, executive vice president, Software at Sun. “As a result of this new license and the efforts of the OpenJDK community, we will see the promise of open source Java technology fulfilled through accelerated innovation and broader distribution, which will benefit the entire IT industry.”

The OpenJDK Community TCK License will enable developers to test the compatibility of their contributions to the OpenJDK project. It will also allow distributors to test complete implementations that are substantially derived from OpenJDK and distributed under GPLv2. Organizations or individual developers that use the OpenJDK Community TCK License and then successfully pass compatibility testing, will also have the option of branding their implementation with Sun's "Java Compatible" trademark and logo.

See the updated OpenJDK FAQ (http://www.sun.com/software/opensource/java/faq.jsp) for more information about the new TCK license and stay tuned for a forthcoming blog from Rich Green (http://blogs.sun.com/richgreen).

About Sun Microsystems, Inc.
A singular vision -- "The Network Is The Computer"(TM) -- guides Sun in the development of technologies that power the world's most important markets. Sun's philosophy of sharing innovation and building communities is at the forefront of the next wave of computing: the Participation Age. Sun can be found in more than 100 countries and on the Web at sun.com.

Posted by Eric Bruno at 05:57 PM  Permalink