I'd really hate to see this list get dragged into a debate about
Java Linux porting team politics. The folks who have donated their
effort to bringing Java to Linux - all of them - have done a wonderful
job. Thanks to you all!
However, there's an interesting point here:
>The big problem I have is the current closed porting method is only
>related to Java today. This completely ignores all possibility of
>advancing java when backward compatibility is not and issue.
I'm not exactly sure what the poster has in mind, but it reminds me of
one of my major problems with Java. Sun has a tight lock on what
"Java" is, what the definition of it is. They don't seem very
interested in having people hack up the VM or the language, or in
general pushing Java in any future research directions they do not
directly control. I think this is horribly short-sighted of Sun, and
very frustrating, but that's their position (at least, as I see it.)
Unfortunately, the JDK licensing terms reflect Sun's attempts to keep
Java locked up.
I don't think it's fair to blame the Linux Java porting team for not
making Java an open language. Their effort has been to port the Sun
JDK to Linux. And they've done a wonderful job of it.
What we do need, in the research community, is a more open Java
system. Something we can all hack on, experiment with. It's not going
to come from Sun, and therefore I suspect it's not going to come from
the Linux porting team.
It could possibly come from one of the free VM efforts - Kaffe,
Japhar, or what Cygnus is up to. If you're really interested in
building an open Java base to experiment with, I think those are the
places to start.
