While the Free Software Foundation and its allies have produced tremendous works, the Apache Software Foundation has made the greatest progress in freeing Java. This was done through persistence and compromise often over the objections of hard-headed people like me who like to knee-jerk too.
The Free Software Foundation is the force which allows us to have Linux or Gnu/Linux today among many others. Apache gave us the Apache Web Server and countless other libraries. The FSF gives us GCJ, Apache gives us countless Java libraries, frameworks and toolkits that are developed in line with our shared ethos.
However, we do these things apart and do our own part to negotiate for the freedom of Java. Its time to take a much larger step and work together, find commonality and keep cool heads.
Calls to give up and go our own way are frankly unhelpful and very early. A free and open Java is at our grasp through combined talent.
Personally, I have temendous respect for the abillities and talents of both groups and look forward to them working together to produce a free high performance production-ready Java.
-Andy
Mark Brooks wrote:
To be clear, so as no-one feels they've been misled in the future, this is not what we'd like in the best of all possible worlds. In that world, classpath would be relicensed under the AL, or a compatible licence.
What's listed above is a position we can live with.
Cheers,
Ben.
Respectfully, perhaps the mistake is not going ahead and developing a class library specifically for this project.
I realize that is a lot of work, but perhaps it would be better to do that work than to use code from another project that has different aims and goals and an incompatible license.
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