Sun looks ready to finally GPL Java

[Scott Elcomb]

On 11/8/06, Evan Leibovitch <evan-ieNeDk6JonTYtjvyW6yDsg at public.gmane.org> wrote:
> But does it matter anymore?
>
> http://www.crncanada.ca/content/ebusiness/sun-set-to-move-on-gpl-li.shtml

Maybe.  I like the way David Berlind describes the situation.

Will Sun blow up the Microsoft/Novell deal to Red Hat's benefit?
( http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/index.php?p=3932 )

"...  Putting Java in the GPL clear would be like tearing a piece off
the bottom off the .Net boat. To that extent, not only might the move
legally neutralize a key part of the Microsoft-Novell deal, it could
technically marginalize .Net's competitiveness. Why? Well, picture the
boat. Sun just swam by and chewed a big hole in its bottom. The boat
is in bad shape and the crew starts bailing out the water. But, things
go from bad to much worse when a school of angry whales, the biggest
of which has the letters I-B-M emblazoned on its side, flies out of
the water and lands in the boat. Sun may not think of IBM and other
Java licensees as the cavalry. But IBM has been laying in waiting for
Java to be open sourced the way a starving Burmese python lays in
waiting for a rodent to prance by. Here's a story that I wrote in 2002
about those very wishes. A GPL'd Java would be one of Big Blue's
moments of glory.  ..."

-- 
Scott Elcomb
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