14 DAY TRIAL // At the JavaOne conference in San Francisco, Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz confirmed that the company will indeed open-source Java. There is a worry, however that fragmentation could in the end present developers with a multitude of incompatible environments, and do pretty much what Microsoft had tried earlier - harm Java as a platform and remove control from Sun.
Rich Green, Sun's executive VP of software said that Sun's primary concern is the possible fragmentation of the technology once the license is changed to allow it. He added that Sun will work with the community to find the best way to proceed.
"The question is not whether we will open-source Java, the question is how," added Schwartz.
Until recently, the company resisted repeated requests from developers who say open-sourcing Java would help spur development on Sun's platform. "With the arrival of Schwartz, who's long been a champion of open source, you can see they are trying to build a defensible business model," said Brian Behlendorf, CTO of CollabNet, one of the earliest Java developers.
Sun has already has success with open sourcing Solaris. Schwartz said that since the licensing changes, there's been a surge in paying customers who still need support and service.
Representatives at the event declined to offer a timeline for open sourcing Java; other technologies, such as Sun Java Studio Creator and System Portal Server will be available to developers starting on Tuesday. In addition, a new licensing program will make it easier for the Java Runtime Environment to be bundled with operating systems such as Linux or *BSD.