14 Nov 2006 roozbeh   » (Master)

Java as free software: While I congratulate Sun guys for freeing Java at last, and am looking forward to see it have a good impact on several users and developers, like being able to use Java applets in completely free browsers, I feel worried about the in-between situation.

Just today, a customer asked me that now that Java has been opened up, is it “OK” finally? Their organization has some open source policies and he was wondering if they should not plan to replace Java anymore.

Many manager types have got the message wrong. They think that by the events of yesterday, they can now use Java freely, that they are not bound by Sun’s will anymore: they will be able to hire people to fix the bugs, they are less depending on proprietary software, they can use the software in ways previously impossible, etc. This may have been intended, of course.

Thus, while it’s a long-term victory for developers and users (which we should thank Sun for), the short-term impact of just freeing some parts but not others may become very annoying. Just like the old days of hearing “But Java is already Open!”

The customer, I told him to worry until the day they can replace all the proprietary parts of the stack. I told him that he needs to worry until he has replaced their current Java implementation with a free one, even if it still comes from Sun and provides exactly the same funtionality. On that day, he can stop worrying about the proprietary software and start worrying about language choice ;-)

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