Well, a JMS like API needs to be developed from scratch obviously! We can't copy it since it would be a copyright violation. Unless Sun holds a patent on JMS, I don't think that they can protect the ideas behind the JMS api.
I am not a lawyer, and what I am saying is certainly not my opinion, but the opinion of our legal counsel. I believe that this bit of the licence is relevant: "Any use of the Specification and the information described therein will be governed by the terms and conditions of this license and the Export Control Guidelines as set forth in the Terms of Use on Sun's website. By viewing, downloading or otherwise copying the Specification, you agree that you have read, understood, and will comply with all of the terms and conditions set forth herein. Subject to the terms and conditions of this license, Sun hereby grants you a fully-paid, non-exclusive, non-transferable, worldwide, limited license (without the right to sublicense) under Sun's intellectual property rights to review the Specification internally solely for the purpose of designing and developing your Java applets and applications intended to run on the Java platform." Given that you would probably find it difficult to argue that you have not downloaded or read the specification, you have agreed to abide by the terms of the licence.
Besides, C++ is a totally different beast from Java. I think we HAVE to be different. We just want an API that is similar in concepts.
Yes, I don't actually think it is terribly difficult to be different.
> Did you get any agreement from Sun to create a JMS-like API for C++? > Don't see why we need to. It's just a Messaging API that bears resemblance to JMS. It does not have any reference to the term 'jms' in it so it's not a trademark violation.
I suppose it depends whether someone could argue that you used the specification to develop your API, which you did describe as "JMS like".
So I fail to see why we need permission. Did linux need permission to implement posix like APIs?
I have no idea what the posix licence agreement looks like. RG
