John D. Mitchell's Blog

Sun to meet with IBM on open-sourcing Java?

Eweek is claiming that, in reponse to IBM's open-letter to Sun to open-source Java, unnamed sources at Sun are telling Eweek that Sun representatives will meet with IBM to discuss open-sourcing Java.

Comments

• Subtle Difference
  Actually, I think all of the reports are about Sun meeting IBM to discuss an open source IMPLEMENTATION of Java. Although that's a fairly minor point, it is an important one, because it still puts the growth of Java from a feature perspective in the hands of Sun. The JCP will still maintain itself as the primary community influence on the growth of the JDK. The open source implementation, however, may compete for performance and quality control (# of bugs) with Suns reference implementation. That is a definite bonus.

  Posted by: rjlorimer on February 26, 2004 at 05:28 PM

• Open source / open standard
  Did anyone ever suggest otherwise? ESR called for open source Java, and an open implementation would be just that - *source* which is *open*.

  Specifications arent source, so you can't have an 'Open Source' specification.

  Ergo, 'Open Source Java' must refer to 'Open Source Java Implementation'.
  

  Posted by: philwebster on February 27, 2004 at 02:00 AM

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