Just ran across this today, it's been lifted from
<URL:http://www.linuxworld.com/linuxworld/lw-1999-02/lw-02-letters.html>
An alternative to Sun's Java
The series of Sun licenses for Java hints at a long-term plan. It
appears Sun is determined not to make its Java implementation free
software; instead, Sun is trying one way after another to offer us
something that falls short -- hoping that eventually we will
accept less than freedom. Each new Java license is another probe
of the community's will.
Sooner or later, Sun's management must think, we will be caught
off guard; perhaps we will get tired of saying no; some of us may
develop an urge to reward Sun for having "tried" so long and hard.
But there's a better alternative: Forget Sun, and use free Java
implementations such as Kaffe and Jaafar [sic]. GNU volunteers
are developing a thorough and powerful replacement for AWT, called
GNU Classpath. (Free but less-powerful AWT replacements are
already available.) We're now looking for volunteers to begin
developing a replacement for JFC.
Promoting the use of alternative implementations has the side
benefit of paving the way for the Java language standard to be
decided by a standards committee -- the way it is done for C and
C++ -- rather than by any one company.
By sticking to free implementations of Java, by making freedom the
criterion, we may eventually convince Sun to release free
software. Or we may not. But either way, Java users will have
freedom, and that's what really matters.
-- Richard Stallman
