Out of the blue, with its unstoppable passion for homing in on THE issue of the day, the world's most-read business magazine - BusinessWeek - has triangulated on Java as one of the the software world's key ignition points right now and on Sun's new CEO Jonathan Schwartz (pictured) as the key protagonist. Jeremy Geelan reports:
Remember how I was musing last week about how you know that something is becoming mainstream (I was discussing "Web 2.0" at the time) when Newsweek put it on its front cover? And how I then noted that, for my money, it couldn't be long until BusinessWeek did the same?
Well I was wrong. Not about BusinessWeek being an even better bell-wether from a software development industry point of view; but about it being "Web 2.0" that BW would be showcasing next. Because, out of the blue, with its unstoppable passion for homing in on THE issue of the day, the world's most-read business magazine has triangulated on not Web 2.0 but Java as one of the the software world's key ignition points right now.
In a "Viewpoint" piece written by the OSDL's ever-articulate CEO Stuart Cohen, the whole issue of what role Java might play in the revival of Sun Microsystems's corporate fortunes is brought to the fore. "Schwartz is a very open CEO, and I think he has made Sun interesting again," Cohen writes.
First he details the history of how Sun's legendary stock run-up owed much to openness: "Sun won on hardware in large part because it embraced open standards before its competitors did." Then he asks, "Can open save Sun again? That is the challenge before Schwartz today." Sun's new CEO, Cohen asserts, "has an opportunity to dramatically change the software playing field and at the same time give back to the open-source community that's so critical to Sun's future success."
That opportunity, Cohen's BusinessWeek essay explicitly suggests, lies partly in the open-sourcing of Java: "If open source is good for Solaris, isn't it time that Sun freed Java under an open-source license?" (Cohen adds, "And while you're at it, why not make your Microsoft Office clone, OpenOffice, truly open? Set it free, too. Liberated from Sun's ownership, OpenOffice could be the best hammer ever to break the Microsoft (MSFT) desktop monopoly.")
All will be revealed on Tuesday, May 16th, when Schwartz takes the JavaOne stage for the first time as CEO rather than merely President and COO.
About Jeremy Geelan Jeremy Geelan is Sr. Vice-President of SYS-CON Media & Events. He is Conference Chair of the AJAXWorld Conference & Expo series, of the 3rd International Virtualization Conference & Expo and founder of Web 2.0 Journal, AJAXWorld Magazine and other major SYS-CON titles. From 2000-6, as first editorial director and then group publisher of SYS-CON Media, he was responsible for the development of all new titles and i-Technology portals for the firm, and regularly represents SYS-CON at conferences and trade shows, speaking to technology audiences both in North America and overseas. He is executive producer and presenter of "Power Panels with Jeremy Geelan" on SYS-CON.TV.
Dave wrote: Sun doens't
need to open source java
but it should work out
any problems/reasons for
the SUN JDK and JRE not
to be included in all
Linux distributions. This
needs to be worked out.
As for other decisions it
really is up to SUN, they
have a good track record
so some faith should be
put in them for the
future.
JDJ News Desk wrote: Out
of the blue, with its
unstoppable passion for
homing in on THE issue of
the day, the world's
most-read business
magazine - BusinessWeek -
has triangulated on Java
as one of the the
software world's key
ignition points right
now.
sramana mitra wrote:
Perhaps SUN's return to
glory would be in merging
with Google, making
McNealy's dream come true
by creating the first
true challenge powerhouse
against Microsoft that
includes a credible
Enterprise strategy?
QuoteUnquote wrote:
Schwartz quote: "Value in
information technology is
coming down to how
efficiently you can get
something done. Whether
it's building a 30
teraflop grid or a web
services infrastructure;
powering a Java handset
or an entire datacenter.
From what and who I see,
the folks who measure
that efficiency are
getting more technical,
not less."
benmhall wrote: I've
never really understood
why Sun doesn't just
dual-license the Java VM
and libraries like it
does with OpenOffice.
This would allow Linux
distributions to include
both the JDK and JRE and
wouldn't preclude
commercial developments.
This wouldn't be that
different from what
Trolltech does with Qt.
With Qt, this limits
commercial KDE
development, but Java
already enjoys strong
commercial support. If
they GPL'd (not LGPL) the
JDK, they would open
doors to the Open Source
community while still
supporting their
commercial contracts.
I wouldn't think that
forks would be a big
problem either, as
everyone would likely
stick to Sun's JDK by
default. I certainly
haven't run into IBM's
JVM very often and one
needs to look no further
than Mozilla,
OpenOffice.org and Qt for
evidence that
dual-licensing doesn't...
alexng06 wrote: The right
direction is open
source...the suggestions
listed on this article
are very interesting.
Don't forget that JS is
more software minded than
hardware.
Creepy wrote: In 1997 I
went to a Java symposium
hosted by Sun, Netscape,
and Oracle. Scott McNealy
gave the keynote and
touted the whole "Network
is the Computer" thing.
Scott envisioned
Networked (semi-dumb)
terminals that had a
browser in place of a
desktop and embedded java
to run applications.
Oracle and Sun backends
would provide data and
application hosting,
respectively. From a
question asked, he
explained his idea
differed from, say, an
XTERM because the
application would be
hosted entirely on the
terminal (and a small
disk or SRAM cache) and
would disappear after any
actions were complete and
that memory was needed
for other tasks
(basically terminals were
memory and a network
card, no data storage
required). These
applications would be
bought on a per-use
scenario - if you needed
Word, you'd pay 10 cents
a...
Serge Wroclawski wrote: I
remember hearing about
two or three weeks ago
that Sun said it was
committed to "Open
Sourcing all of its
software, everything they
make."- this is from
LugRadio and a Sun
representative.
Given this /very/
progressive stance, I
don't see why they're
stalling when it comes to
Java.
If anything, this slows
Java adoption.
Java was all the rage in
the late 90s. Had they
made it Free, I think it
would have been a tour de
force. Now we see
competition from simpler
technologies. We're
learning that we don't
need a J2EE
infrastructure when a
simple
Model-View-Controller
model with a database
backend will do the job
just as well, and so on.
Freeing Java would spread
adoption, if nothing else
than by including it in
every distribution
shortly thereafter.
This new license system
isn't good enough, it'll
just frustrate people.
eddeye wrote: As a former
CS student *and*
instructor, take my
advice: run away from
Java as fast as you can.
I'm not saying it's a bad
langage/environment or
doesn't serve some
audiences very well. But
Java's like cigarettes,
starting on them too
early stunts your growth.
CS students need to learn
as many different
programming approaches
and concepts as they can.
Procedural languages (C
et al), iterative
(generators,
Python/Ruby), functional
(lisp), declarative
(prolog), message
passing, object oriented,
generic programming,
closures, static vs
dynamic typing, etc.
Breadth of exposure to
different approaches is
crucial to knowing what
approach to take with
real-world problems. This
should be coupled with a
depth of understanding of
what the system does
'under the covers' at
each level. It makes all
the difference in ...
ajs318 wrote: Sun's
problem is that they
don't want something that
isn't Java to take the
place of Java. I think I
have the solution and it
works using existing
laws.
All Sun have to do is
register the Java name as
a trademark. There are
already established
regulations covering the
use of trademarks. Sun
could licence the
trademark subject to any
conditions they liked, so
all they have to do is
impose the condition that
the Java name can only be
used to refer to software
products that pass a
suite of tests specified
by Sun. The software
could then be released
under the GPL. The GPL is
a copyright licence only,
it says nothing about
trademarks. Clause 7
makes the distributor
responsible for ensuring
compliance with other IP
considerations.
If someone, i.e.
Microsoft, implement an
extended but incompatible
"Java", they...
aCapitalist wrote: The
server side guys never
had a problem with
downloading Java. I can
only assume that this is
a move for the desktop.
The problem (as I see
it), is that it's too
late for any kind of java
desktop resurgence. How
come Sun never produced
any kind of Java
Gnome/Gtk+ apps? They do
employee Gnome
contributors and Gnome is
their desktop. Oh
right....Swing is enough
for everyone,*rollseyes*.
Maybe four years ago if
they had gotten behind
Java gtk+, and made this
move things would be
different, but much of
the open source desktop
developers have moved on
to Ruby, Python, and
Mono. And there's still a
lot of development done
in C/C++. Even on the
server side, many people
are moving to LAMP+Ruby.
So my question is what is
Sun's reasoning for doing
it now?
RPoet wrote: Open
sourcing Java would at
the least allow Linux
vendors to distribute and
integrate it into their
distributions, which
would be a great boon.
Sun could still make "Sun
Java" even under open
source, and have every
bit as much control over
"Sun Java" as they have
today.
As a bonus they could
accept independant
patches (though they
wouldn't be forced to).
Most people would still
want "Sun Java" and not
"Billy's Homebrew Java"
(which wouldn't even
exist anyway; I don't
know why everybody seems
to think open source
leads to forking hell).
So many of the essential
Java tools and libraries
are already open source
(and not forked to hell).
Sun is making a mistake
by keeping Java
proprietary.
superfebs wrote:
Open-sourcing Java would
be very nice and useful
for the Linux and BSD
communities since the
World Wide Web still
"requires" the Java
Plug-in (please notice
quotes) and
OpenOffice.org does have
full functionality only
with the Big Official
Proprietary JVM
installed. Separately
from the distro/OS you
have and its own powerful
packages installation
system.
Having it freely
available would make Open
Source systems a step
more powerful and a step
less handicapped in the
desktop environment.
Godji wrote: What Java
needs, in decreasing
order of importance:
1) A free software
license (GPL?) to allow
for fast, active
development, quick fixes
of current problems, and
license purity. Plus,
imagine the boost if all
those talented GCJ people
put their efforts into
the already rich Sun
codebase!
2) Constant references!
Please! Java's
encapsulation is about as
secure as Internet
Explorer. A harmless
getter method for a
private member variable
allows you to replace
that variable with
anything of your choice,
because you effectively
get a pointer to the
member. The only current
solution is to copy
everything in the getter,
which is unacceptably
awkward and slow. So much
for design by contract.
3) Sane memory
requirements. Right now
coding an inherently
memory-intensive app in
Java is very very
difficult. I tried it
once, and had to rewrite
in C++ to get anywhere.
aaronnl wrote: The
supposed point of "Java
was write once, run
everywhere". Without it
being open source, it's
"write once, run only
where Sun feels like it".
That's why it doesn't
work on Linux x86-64
native, Linux/BSD on
non-x86 systems, OpenBSD
on any system, etc.
Dlugar wrote: While I
agree that open-sourcing
Java won't be a magical
solution that will
somehow improve the
codebase and allow people
to run all sorts of
languages to run on the
JVM...there is in my
opinion a good reason to
get other languages to
run on the JVM--to
compete with .NET.
Right now, .NET devotees
don't have to use C# to
get .NET code, they can
use a scripting language
instead. Having a
scripting language (like
PHP) that people can run
on the same VM as Java
would be a great boon to
both people who use the
scripting language as
well as to Java's
popularity in general.
Kaazing Corporation and
Sun Microsystems
announced an alliance to
deliver the scalable and
advanced real-time Web
2.0 platform. The
integration between
Kaazing's real-time Rich
Internet Application
(RIA) solution,
Enterprise Comet, and Sun
Microsystems' open source
Java EE applic
Virtualization Journal
now reaches more than
60,000 online readers
with monthly digital
editions and weekly
newsletters. The premier
issue of the magazine's
print edition, which
debuts on May 6, 2008, at
JavaOne in San Francisco,
as a media sponsor of
this event, will be
availabl
Sun's mule train has
finally pulled into
Indiana after three years
on the road. Indiana is
the Linux-friendly
Fedora-like OpenSolaris
project meant to move the
Solaris-shy Linux
community off Linux and
on to Solaris tempted by
Solaris widgetry like the
highly scalable,
rollback-e
At Java One this week Sun
has been selling its year
-old-but-still-upcoming -
and definitely
late-to-the-party - Adobe
AIR- and Microsoft
Silverlight-competitive
JavaFX Rich Client
environment as a
potential
revenue-generator capable
of putting ads on mobile
applications and JavaF
MySQL has backed off a
plan to charge for some
encryption and
compression backup
widgetry in the next
version of the database -
and, heavens, NOT OPEN
SOURCE THE STUFF, an idea
it trotted a few weeks
ago and predictably
caught hell for. Sun,
which bought MySQL for a
billion dolla
Conference in San
Francisco. Dvorak held
forth on a number of
topics, including the new
AMD/Intel lawsuit, the
viability of Java and
Sun, the value of (or
lack thereof) of
corporate PR, and whether
or not a new book about
Silicon Valley is really
worth reading.
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Out of the blue, with its unstoppable passion for homing in on THE issue of the day, the world's most-read business magazine - BusinessWeek - has triangulated on Java as one of the the software world's key ignition points right now and on Sun's new CEO Jonathan Schwartz (pictured) as the key protagonist. Jeremy Geelan reports: 
Kaazing Corporation and
Sun Microsystems
announced an alliance to
deliver the scalable and
advanced real-time Web
2.0 platform. The
integration between
Kaazing's real-time Rich
Internet Application
(RIA) solution,
Enterprise Comet, and Sun
Microsystems' open source
Java EE applic
Virtualization Journal
now reaches more than
60,000 online readers
with monthly digital
editions and weekly
newsletters. The premier
issue of the magazine's
print edition, which
debuts on May 6, 2008, at
JavaOne in San Francisco,
as a media sponsor of
this event, will be
availabl 
Sun's mule train has
finally pulled into
Indiana after three years
on the road. Indiana is
the Linux-friendly
Fedora-like OpenSolaris
project meant to move the
Solaris-shy Linux
community off Linux and
on to Solaris tempted by
Solaris widgetry like the
highly scalable,
rollback-e 
At Java One this week Sun
has been selling its year
-old-but-still-upcoming -
and definitely
late-to-the-party - Adobe
AIR- and Microsoft
Silverlight-competitive
JavaFX Rich Client
environment as a
potential
revenue-generator capable
of putting ads on mobile
applications and JavaF
MySQL has backed off a
plan to charge for some
encryption and
compression backup
widgetry in the next
version of the database -
and, heavens, NOT OPEN
SOURCE THE STUFF, an idea
it trotted a few weeks
ago and predictably
caught hell for. Sun,
which bought MySQL for a
billion dolla
