As you all must know by now, Sun has open sourced Java. Many others have written about it; for example check out Jonathan's and Rich Green's blogs for perspectives from slightly different angles. Rather than repeat what others have said about the wisdom of communities, network effects and innovation happening everywhere, I though I would go a different route.

I am here in Second Life (SL) awaiting the open Java launch event at the Sun Pavilion in Second Life. For those of you who do not know about Second Life, or who think of it as a place for gamers, it is truly so much more than that. SL represents a type of future which will need to be addressed on a broader level - and soon I think. It is a virtual world complete with real $$ commerce, thriving and evolving communities and the ability to determine your own destiny. You can take part in communities spanning a myriad of interests (and yes some of us may be offended by some of them, but that's what it means to have communities and to choose where you participate) or blaze your own trail. The tools within the SL world are simple enough that you can design and build just about anything of your choosing. It is a world with very few rules and premised on community tolerance of diversity, creativity and exploration.

It is therefore entirely appropriate, in my mind, that this next phase of Java's life be launched here also. By opening Java to the community at large, Sun is giving Java its second life. Broadly adopted across the planet, Java's second life promises to drive that breadth further, enabling uses of the technology that today even the smartest of us could not predict. Similarly SL is in a constant state of evolution - unpredictable, exciting and fun.  Not being able to predict exactly how Java will evolve and change over time is the most exciting part of this. 

The launch here had a slightly different tone than this morning's. While this morning focused on the whats and whys – with some fun look at the code launching into the community and Duke himself/itself(?) stepping into the time machine as he/it (?) was open sourced - the SL event was clearly developer focused.  Questions about forking the code, mixing code from Apache-based communities, innovating and so forth were more the focus.  The Pavilion is open all the time - here you can see videos and check out what else Sun offers.  The communities themselves are hosted on java.net.

The reaction here was positive.  It seemed to echo what we have been seeing in the press, in particular from the free software movement.  This is a good thing for the community, for Java and for Sun. 

And it is.