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Sun Terminates FreeBSD Java License
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Comments (6)
There is only one way to beat this and that is to get Sun out of the loop. Or GNU Classpath becomes the dominant Java Platform or FOSS forces Java into irrelevance. Their is no future for Java with Sun in it.
Well, now we have another clear example of what can happen if you surrender yourself to a publisher of non-free software. Vendor revokes license, vendor enforces new license, the community gets fucked.
It is quite sad that the FreeBSD Foundation actually spent money on developing a non-free Java runtime just to get the license revoked. This may actually lead to FreeBSD not being allowed to distribute that runtime/sdk anymore. They should rather have spent the money to support the GNU Classpath project and one or more of the free software JavaVM implementations. What a waste.
Remember, this could happen to everybody who uses non-free software. The vendor could go bust or simply decide to cancel all support efforts. And you won't be able to do anything about it.
It is quite sad that the FreeBSD Foundation actually spent money on developing a non-free Java runtime just to get the license revoked. This may actually lead to FreeBSD not being allowed to distribute that runtime/sdk anymore. They should rather have spent the money to support the GNU Classpath project and one or more of the free software JavaVM implementations. What a waste.
Remember, this could happen to everybody who uses non-free software. The vendor could go bust or simply decide to cancel all support efforts. And you won't be able to do anything about it.
At Sun, the clue meter never sets above zero :)
--FeriCyde
--FeriCyde
Let me pointthis out as well.
Sun revoked the old license, and they haven't settled on a New license yet. Expect this to be finished as each of the Linux news sites picks it up and the Sun bashing begins in full force.
The question is why is Sun 'Hero of OSS, Deliverier of the mos t amount of code to OSS' actually charging FreeBSD for this. They could donate the time and use the tax writeoff's. Why is there a question over the licensing to begin with? is Sun changing the licensing to be less OSS friendly?
Sun revoked the old license, and they haven't settled on a New license yet. Expect this to be finished as each of the Linux news sites picks it up and the Sun bashing begins in full force.
The question is why is Sun 'Hero of OSS, Deliverier of the mos t amount of code to OSS' actually charging FreeBSD for this. They could donate the time and use the tax writeoff's. Why is there a question over the licensing to begin with? is Sun changing the licensing to be less OSS friendly?
I must say as a veteran Slowlaris user, that every time I've used it in an enterprise context I've felt like I stepped into the way-back machine. At least you can get bash (and I hear gnome) loaded, but for example (These are a few from memory):
Their version of awk is an antique. Here's what I always end up doing in shell scripts:
case $(uname) in SunOS ) awk=nawk; ;; * ) awk=awk ;; esac
Then, at the invocation of awk I use the variable. (this isn't totally the case statement -- I actually do some more, but you get the drift).
I've also had to educate a couple of Linux users that have never used Slowlaris on the finer points -- you know, how to use other command-line combinations for stuff you can easily do in one fell swoop with the GNU-enhanced equivalents.
My experience so far -- Unix users coming to Linux have absolutely no problems (you don't miss what you never had). Linux users attempting Unix, some orientation required, but it's no big deal really. Some whining may be in order...
As for Java, Sun is desperately seeking relevance in the marketplace. They aren't going to do that with hardware, especially when the "bottom-end" hardware continues to quickly overtake any ground they've staked out as "high-end". I met someone a couple of years back that was working at a genetics company, and compiling code with gcc in a clustered environment -- basically, this guy was trying to figure out why the supposedly high end Sun hardware wasn't keeping pace with some cheap AMD rack-mounted commodity servers. As soon as the Sun tech people determined that yes, indeed, they had tried all optimization options -- they stopped returning his phone calls.
So, it won't be from the hardware, and IMHO, definitely not the OS. Now there are niche places where Solaris will still fit, but as a competitive whole they're fast losing ground. They're not going to do the desktop (certainly not with the tech support nightmares I've experienced from them). Java stations? come on...
It's just Java, from what I see. How to make cash off of it... hmmm....
Consulting? For Java? Well, (again, My Humble Opinion here) it's no secret that some of the best java consulting you can lay your hands (for enterprise-class stuff) is ... IBM... Plus, that's IBMs model -- consulting.
So, we can see, they're in a tight spot.
Great time to jack around on Java licensing Sun! It got your name in the press at least :)
--FeriCyde
Their version of awk is an antique. Here's what I always end up doing in shell scripts:
case $(uname) in SunOS ) awk=nawk; ;; * ) awk=awk ;; esac
Then, at the invocation of awk I use the variable. (this isn't totally the case statement -- I actually do some more, but you get the drift).
I've also had to educate a couple of Linux users that have never used Slowlaris on the finer points -- you know, how to use other command-line combinations for stuff you can easily do in one fell swoop with the GNU-enhanced equivalents.
My experience so far -- Unix users coming to Linux have absolutely no problems (you don't miss what you never had). Linux users attempting Unix, some orientation required, but it's no big deal really. Some whining may be in order...
As for Java, Sun is desperately seeking relevance in the marketplace. They aren't going to do that with hardware, especially when the "bottom-end" hardware continues to quickly overtake any ground they've staked out as "high-end". I met someone a couple of years back that was working at a genetics company, and compiling code with gcc in a clustered environment -- basically, this guy was trying to figure out why the supposedly high end Sun hardware wasn't keeping pace with some cheap AMD rack-mounted commodity servers. As soon as the Sun tech people determined that yes, indeed, they had tried all optimization options -- they stopped returning his phone calls.
So, it won't be from the hardware, and IMHO, definitely not the OS. Now there are niche places where Solaris will still fit, but as a competitive whole they're fast losing ground. They're not going to do the desktop (certainly not with the tech support nightmares I've experienced from them). Java stations? come on...
It's just Java, from what I see. How to make cash off of it... hmmm....
Consulting? For Java? Well, (again, My Humble Opinion here) it's no secret that some of the best java consulting you can lay your hands (for enterprise-class stuff) is ... IBM... Plus, that's IBMs model -- consulting.
So, we can see, they're in a tight spot.
Great time to jack around on Java licensing Sun! It got your name in the press at least :)
--FeriCyde
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Because Sun can decide not to allow other system to work with java.
Solaris is an OS that can stand on it's own.
Java is a programming language that needs people.