Sun Contributes to Open Source Community [LWN.net]

Sun Microsystems, Inc. has announced Project Looking Glass and Java 3D technology will be made available to the open source community. Sun also announced additional open source desktop efforts in collaboration with the Java developer community: the JDesktop Network Components (JDNC) and JDesktop Integration Components (JDIC).

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When will it be Java itself?

Posted Jun 29, 2004 6:11 UTC (Tue) by Duncan (guest, #6647) [Link]

Open source Java /tools/ don't help a lot when Java /itself/ has yet to be
open sourced. It's not only philosophical problems, either. There are
practical ones involved. Namely, all they have available for AMD64 is the
server version, and that's all they say they are /interested/ in making
available, at this time. If it was open source, The desktop VM would
already have been ported as well, along with all the other open source
desktop stuff (for example, KDE) already ported to AMD64. Unfortunately,
the open source versions are behind, and will probably remain so, since
the standard is defined by the closed source version. Ironically, MS'
offering, C#, is more open than Java, now, given the Mono implementation.
A lot of stuff that /would/ have been implemented in Java, were it open
source, is now being implemented in Mono, and Sun's Java is being left
behind.

I'm not going to be dependent on the whims of a single-source provider
again, if I can help it. I jumped from MSWormOS for a reason.

Sun could do with Java what Trolltech has done with QT. Open source it
under the GPL, and dual license it to those who want to keep their stuff
proprietary. They'd likely be able to make more from it than they are
now, and certainly couldn't easily make less, since the same
proprietary-ware folks paying for it now would only continue to do so,
plus it would be open to open source use as well.

Duncan

Sun Contributes to Open Source Community

Posted Jun 29, 2004 19:43 UTC (Tue) by hingo (subscriber, #14792) [Link]

So is this now real Open Source? As in OSI/FSF approves it. Or is it like when they released some earlier java-libs as Open Source in the 90's, invited Linus to the party, and he got pissed when he realised the "Open Source" part was only in the press release, not in any deeds by Sun and they had just wasted a day for him.

I'm just asking, because the website says you can participate, download and send patches, but a link to the terms for contirbutors is still missing.

Maybe Sun Contributes to Open Source Community, but not much

Posted Jun 30, 2004 4:55 UTC (Wed) by hamjudo (guest, #363) [Link]

I wasted some time looking for licenses for projects listed in the press release.

I couldn't find the license or anything else for Project Looking Glass either. So that's neither open nor closed, it's plain, old fashioned vaporware. No points for open sourcing vaporware.
JDesktop Integration Components (JDIC) is distributed under the LGPL. So it is open source.
j3d-core is distributed under a couple licenses, the Java Distribution License, which is clearly closed, and the Java Research License. I am not a lawyer so I am not qualified to review the legal parts of either license. My unqualified first impression is that they are both unacceptable for actual use.
I must be reading something wrong, as section 2.3 of the JDL seems to say it can be unilaterally terminated on the 2nd or any following anniversary with 60 days notice. If you foolishly base your business on code covered by this license, Sun will be able to shut your business down in two years.

Hingo asked "So is this now real Open Source?"
I don't think so. I don't think it is good Closed Source either.

Maybe Sun Contributes to Open Source Community, but not much

Posted Jun 30, 2004 12:14 UTC (Wed) by tajyrink (subscriber, #2750) [Link]

https://lg3d-core.dev.java.net/ - Looking Glass core is released under GPL, "stable" version 0.5 is downloadable. Of course, without truly free Java it doesn't help much to have a GPL'd Java program - you can't run it on free software. The usual case of the "java trap".

Sun Contributes to Open Source Community

Posted Jun 30, 2004 21:06 UTC (Wed) by hathawsh (subscriber, #11289) [Link]

The headline on this article and many of the comments give the impression that this is the first time Sun has contributed to open source. May I remind everyone that OpenOffice, released by Sun some time ago, is probably the most important reason why open source adoption is accelerating. I know everyone is bitter about the Java situation, but let's be thankful for what we have.