On Thursday 17 March 2005 20:54, Jonathon Blake wrote: > Chad wrote > > >Who cares if it "would fly in the Linux market"? > > Because that is where the Geeks are. <smirk> > > On a more serious note, is this patch multi-platform? > > I'm guessing that it is. > > > But since someone *FROM HELIX* did it for us, and even signed > > the freaking JCA! > > +1 > > Now how long will it take for SUN to incorporate it into OOo? > > Christian was wanting to know why there is some reluctance to > contribute back to OOo. He can track this issue, and see what > the end result is.
Hi Jonathan, I am missing the issue here. I'll try to state it, to see if I've got it. Someone wants to use some feature of the OOo 2.0, but 2.0 requires Java for that function. The user objects to Sun's obviously wacko "closed open source" license for Java. You are using this issue to illustrate the point that OOo is inflexible because we and our leads are too beholden to Sun. Did I get that right? WRT to Java, all I can say is one word: Mono. Sun is eventually going to have to open Java, or Mono is going to be a low-end disruption for Java, if I understand Java and Mono correctly. If not Mono, then some other open source alternative. I hear lots of developers talking positively about Java's functionality, but they don't like being restricted by Java's license, which IMHO prevents Java from getting the maximum traction that it could. Sun gets slammed all the time in the financial press for its difficulty in monetizing Java. IMHO, Sun was one of the first to get hit by the disruptive open source tsunami, and Sun is just trying to recover and stop the slide for the time being. Sun is having major problems with its market capitalization, and so it is trying to convince Wall Street that it has a plan to staunch the bleeding on a short term basis. This is due to the Street's myopic vision on quarterly and annual performance. I actually believe that Sun has the vision to look past the short term foolishness of the Street, but they are like the kid who sees that the Emperor has no clothes. They can't tell the Street that just looking at quarter over quarter performance is not enough, because the whole system is based on quarterly performance. I do believe that Sun sees the long term view, and is just trying to minimize the current bleeding caused by Linux with regard to its larger hardware and software offerings. Sun is a big ship, and Sun's current predicament is evidence supporting the power of Christensen's analysis re the difficulty that market leaders have in responding to disruptive technologies. But IMHO, it's important that we here at OOo keep our eyes focused on the longer term picture. Sun has an plan for driving revenue from open source. Microsoft doesn't. Microsoft is fleeing up market, using increasingly integrated solutions under conditions which are increasingly calling for modular solutions. You can think of the difference between lots of little earthquakes versus one big earthquake. IMHO, Sun got hit by say a 5.5 earthquake, it has rocked Sun's house and thrown quite a bit of dishes and pictures off of the walls, and cracked the sheet rock on the walls a bit. There have also been lots and lots of subsequent tremors, like for example, Danese Cooper now announcing in the news today that she is going to be going to Intel. (See this link): http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/index.php?p=1168 But Sun's foundation has not been cracked, and Sun is using this rebuilding phase as an opportunity to structurally reinforce its house. Microsoft, by contrast, is living in a brick and mortar house in a liquifaction like the San Francisco Marina, and is facing the possiblity of catastrophic failure, due to its insistence on continuing to sell commodities (Windows and Office) at premium prices. If it doesn't change its biz model soon, it will leave a huge vacuum in the software industry, and Sun and Novell and others will be able to move in and fill the holes left as Microsoft shrinks. Plus, Microsoft doesn't really have a solution for the developing world, and Sun and Novell and HP do. So IMHO, I am not worried about Sun's current plans for Java and embedding more Java requirements in OOo 2.0. I wish that they would open OOo more, but they feel that they need to do this probably to show Wall Street that they have a plan for monetizing Java. Eventually, when it's too late, the Street will wake up, see that the Emperor has no clothes, and Sun will be poised to move toward more opennenss, and will be better able to monetize a more fully open Java and Star Office / OOo. On the short term, though, I understand your point, Jonathan, about developers outside Sun getting peeved about limitations on the OOo code. It's a complex issue. IMHO, we need to hunker down, and hope that the digital tipping point arrives sooner rather than later. But hopefully not before we are done with our film. Heh. Christian Einfeldt 415-351-1300 --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
