DanG BloG: yet another DanG BloG

So, much ado about the Big (Open Source Java Or Not) Question. Were there answers or merely questions? java.net editor-in-chief Daniel Steinberg has a brief write-up. There's also now a Big Question discussion forum in addition to a parallel discussion forum for JSRs.

Sun and IBM and O'Reilly and company were on stage at JavaOne, and I don't know that anything came of it other than everybody got to see those parties on the same stage in a Java forum in which the "open source" topic was discussed in round table mode. If Rod Smith (the author of the open letter from IBM to Sun requesting that Java be open sourced, so we'll assume he represents IBM's position in as much as an individual can represent a company's position) and Gosling/Gingell/O'Reilly/Apache/etc. can't come to agreement while sitting on the same stage, I'm likely as not going to be able to crack that nut here. But, my take is that the real "questions" around open sourcing Java (or not) were placed on the table and then it was time to wrap up:

• how does compatibility and branding, the fundamental promise that Java programs will not be lied to by things claiming to be Java, function when there's a redhat, suse, mandrake, gentoo, purple, green, and orange distro of Java available, some of which don't implement the entire specification? (As Rob Gingell said, "You can not have

  System.checkWithAttorney()

  because code doesn't read trademarks.") Microsoft broke this when they got the Java source code under agreement, and the point of the corresponding multi-year lawyer festival that resulted in, well, lots of job security for lawyers.
• what does "open sourcing Java" mean, and what steps over and above what's already been done? (bug database is public sans internal engineer e-mail addresses, you can go to java.sun.com and find the full source code of J2SE, the JCP allows open source RI's and TCK's if the expert group lead chooses to do so) Is that enough? What else should be done, what does it buy the community, and how do compatibility and branding fare in the additional steps desired?

I would love to see a much longer discussion addressing/debunking these or outlining the "real" issues with maybe a few more parties at the table, but for now the discussion forum will have to suffice for a public discussion on the topic.