Wednesday May 03, 2006

The open source Java topic seems to come in waves. With this wave the speculation is that Jonathan's Open Source, sharing, and transparent ways will enter the world of Java. To get this out in front, I have no idea if Java will be open sourced. Even though you haven't asked, I'll give you my thoughts :)

I have one primary concern about Open Source Java. That the platform will be diluted, and not necessarily for nefarious reasons. For example, this comment about removing Swing from a server build of Java comment enough seems innocent enough, but would it be the start of a trend? Would we end up seeing specific builds of Java for specific problem sets? Would it stay together as a full Write Once Run Anywhere platform (WORA)? I supposed this could be addressed under a license.

The fact that there is so much discussion going on is of interest. The discussion is all over the map. Some like the idea of Open Source Java. Some think that will negatively affect WORA. There doesn't seem to be any general consensus building. Perhaps that means there is a tremendous amount of pent-up innovation. What do you think?