Open source Java?
February 18th, 2004
Recently, blogland is (again) uproared by the question "Should Java be open source?". I just read another opinion, this time by somebody I respect highly. But I don't agree with him. Reason enough to give my opinion, I guess.
For starters: Eric Raymond's argument (as it is described by Bertrand, I didn't read his article) isn't valid at all. I think MS Windows is pretty ubiquitous, yet you can't describe it as 'uncontrolled'. A single example doesn't prove anything. Blame my scientifical mind for contesting this.
Secondly, I'm not convinced that OS Java would be a good idea. The first thing that will happen, is forking all around. Every "Java" will have its own pros and cons (This one has untyped variables! This one has closures!), and programmers will have their own "Java" of choice. Leaving the user with having to download a new "Java" for every program they use. Is moaning and grinding about jar dependencies familiar to you? Imagine that it becomes moaning and grinding about "Java" dependencies. Or jars that are not available for certain "Java" forks.
Maybe Sun's marketing machine isn't up to par with Microsoft's, and I can regret that. But thinking that setting Java free will solve this problem, is naive at least. A lion that has spent his life in a Zoo won't survive in the wild.
As much as I would like a Java you can tinker with, I'm too comfortable with the idea of having a Java, instead of having tons of "Java"s. If you want functionality that's not readily available, extend, don't replace. Java is perfect for that.
After all, remember the effort we had to make to finally have web standards.
April 21st, 2008 at 10:17 PM IBM and Sun for Open-Source java? Tom didn't agree with what I wrote earlier. He might be right about forking, that's a serious risk. And with java currently under (FUD) attack from the Dark Side, any move must be well planned. To limit the risks, Open-Sourcing...