Re: [Article] Sun Fires Back over Open Source Java Accusations

[Jens Lehmann]

Tom Tromey wrote:
> > > > > > "Patrik" == Patrik Reali <address@hidden> writes:
>
>
> Patrik> OSNews has some discussion on Sun's answer to ESR request to make Java
> Patrik> open source.
> Patrik> <http://www.osnews.com/comment.php?news_id=6053>
>
> IMO, while it would be helpful if Sun opened their source, we don't
> really need it.
>
> What we do need is 3 things:
>
> 1. Access to the TCK on acceptable terms,

A Sun member recently said to me: "We can't make the tests free because 
they are labor intensive but we *DID* endow a number of grants top cover 
the costs of such tests for important open source projects.  If someone 
has a good open source VM implementation and all they were missing was 
the funding to get it tested so it could be called Java, then they 
should approach Sun with it and I would be willing to bet a weeks salary 
something could be worked out."

This means that, if any of the free VMs believes it is 1.x compatible, 
it would be worth a try to contact Sun and ask politely what they can 
do. Having a certified Java implementation would be a huge step forward.

Jens