| Open-Source Java: Again?! |
May 02, 2006
Here we go again. This time it's sources within Sun hinting that they might finally be ready to open-source Java.
Excuse me if I yawn.
I've been down this road before and I've gotten tired of seeing the same old ruts.
My buddy Daryl Taft has always covered the open-sourcing of Java, to the point that he's sick of it. He asks, "Who Cares About Open-Source Java?"
Good question.
Back when this can of worms was first opened, it was open-source application developers on Linux and the BSDs who were excited about it. These days, most of those folks are a lot more excited about PHP 5 and Ruby on Rails, or open-source JEE (Java Enterprise Edition) engines like JBoss, than they are about Java.
I can't blame them.
Modern day Java is a great language. When people today talk about bloated or slow Java code they're just showing that they haven't looked at in years. Today, Java would be my first choice for efficient coding... on Windows or Solaris. Since it's proprietary, Linux developers avoid it.
If Sun were to open-source Java, I can see Java running neck and neck very quickly with C++, PHP, Perl, and Python -- today's dominant Linux application programming languages. It wouldn't surprise me by 2008 to see LAMJ (Linux, Apache, MySQL, Java) taking the Web application development lead away from today's LAMP stacks.
Sun, however, may not do it. Or, as Taft points out, it might do it, but do it in such a way under its CDDL (Common Development and Distribution License) that open-sourcing it doesn't mean anything. We don't need a Java that's effectively still under the control of Sun with a new development community replacing today's Sun-dominated JCP (Java Community Process).
I agree with Taft. Sun needs not just to open-source Java, they need to give up control of it.
Does that sound crazy? I think it's crazy as a fox.
What company has probably benefited the most from Linux?
IBM.
IBM doesn't support open source and Linux because it makes them feel all warm and fuzzy. IBM supports Linux because it's good business.
IBM doesn't even sell Linux. If you use Linux on an IBM system, it's probably Red Hat or Novell/SUSE Linux.
Big Blue also doesn't invest much in Linux development -- no matter what SCO may say about the matter!
What IBM realized was that an open-source Linux would be better for its business and customers than its own AIX Unix. It also realized that it could cut its costs and financial exposure.
If IBM spends a hundred million on an operating system feature and it tanks, that's a hundred million that IBM will never see again. But, if IBM spends twenty million on it, Red Hat kicks in ten million, Novell throws in another ten million, and a horde of programmers invest some $100-an-hour-time on the project, it doesn't take long to spend a hundred million, but IBM's only been exposed to the tune of $20 million.
Better still, because so many independent hands are working on the project, chances are that the feature is going to turn out to be something useful to many users.
There's absolutely no reason why Sun can't follow the same course. Let's face it, Sun has held Java in its hands since the start. The language has become very popular; JEE application engines are everywhere, and how much money has Sun made from Java?
I don't know the exact numbers, but I do know one thing: it hasn't been enough.
Sun needs to make a big change if it's going to get out of its downward spiral. Linux and its developers would welcome an open-source Java.
It seems to me that newly appointed CEO Jonathan Schwartz has an ideal chance to start Sun on a new, better course.
If, however, the upcoming JavaOne conference goes by and it's Java as usual, well, I think that's it.
Linux can use an open-source Java. Sun needs to open-source Java.
You can fool all the programmers some of the time, and some of the programmers all the time, but you cannot fool all the programmers all the time. If Sun doesn't come through this time, they'll be the ones who are really the fools.
-- Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols
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