On Sat, 15 Mar 2008 15:54:13 -0400 Jeff Savit said: >Mark Post said: >> Not surprisingly, Sun Microsystems thinks that Linux on IBM mainframes is = >> a Bad Idea [tm], largely I suspect because it cuts into their hardware = >> sales. As a result, you won't be finding a Sun Java for Linux on System = >> z. (It will be interesting if they decide to provide one for OpenSolaris = >> on System z at some point.) >A. Harry Williams said: >> There are not a lot of alternatives at this point. There is no Sun version >> for System z, so your Java developers will have to get over their prejudces. >> This is not a System z vs Intel issue, but a Sun JDK vs IBM JDK issue. >> >> Alternatively, you could complain to Sun about their lack of support. >The reason Sun doesn't provide Java for Linux on System z is not because >of our opinion regarding Linux on mainframes, but because IBM is a >licensee of Java technology, and is responsible for Java on its >platforms, not Sun. I imagine that would probably be the case in future >for OpenSolaris on System z unless IBM and Sun contract otherwise. This >is how it has been for a long time and you can see that IBM provides >Java for z/OS, OS/400, and AIX:
Jeff, Thanks for the update on Sun's positions, however unless there is exclusivity in your license with IBM, there is no reason that Sun could not provide it's own versions. Even though Microsoft and Intel license the technology, you don't rely on them to be the sole provider of Java. Now Sun may have very legitimate business reasons for providing Java on one platform and not another, and that is totally within Sun's rights as a corporation, just as we have the right to evaluate our own business objectives and acquire technology that we best fits those objectives. Remember that the original question dealt with developers wanting Java to be Sun's Java at a particular level. Sun has made claims about portability of Java code. If it was as portable as they claim, then developers would not need to request Sun's Java at a particular level. Our experience is that Java is not as portable as Sun claims. Since the original requestor's comment that his developers were (insert adjective), I was simply pointing out one additional bump in the road, that if he wasn't looking, could derail his project, and potential ways to address the problems. Sun is free to ignore any of our requests, but that is because Sun has chosen to not do so, not because of a license with another vendor. It's good to hear from you. Stay in touch. /ahw ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For LINUX-390 subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: INFO LINUX-390 or visit http://www.marist.edu/htbin/wlvindex?LINUX-390
