Java

Makes no difference to our organization, we're sticking to tried and true
RPG/RPGIV/RPG ILE/and now.........e-RPG.

>>> "L. S. Russell" <leslier@datrek.com> 08/23/00 10:28am >>>
Poll circulating on the Web.

A poll circulating among various developer groups is asking for a vote
on
whether Sun should make Java open source. Kevin Burton, the
developer
who organized the poll, calls Java
"broken." He says that depending on the results of the poll, he may ask
the open source community to drop Java in
favor of a clean-room implementation such as a Classpath/GNU compiler.

"Java isn't getting ported to non-popular operating systems, isn't
getting new features, isn't solid," says Burton, who
created the Apache Jetspeed and Alexandria projects and founded
www.openprivacy.org. "I'm fine with letting
Sun and the Java Community Process work out the language spec and
high-level features, but the implementation
should be done in an open manner."

This is not Burton's first go-around with Sun--in March he organized a
petition asking
Sun to open some of its Java tools. However, Sun is increasingly
entwined with
various open source organizations--including the Apache
Foundation--and
said last
week it is depending on open source developers to help build an open
systems
competitor to Microsoft.Net. That effort revolves around StarOffice and
the Gnome
interface, which will both be available under the GNU Public License.

Opinion so far is divided. As of Monday, 28.8 percent of developers
voting said there
was nothing wrong with Sun's Java licensing, while 26 percent said
Java
should also
be made available under the GPL.

Burton thinks all of Java should be developing the way the Tomcat
project is
developing under Apache's sponsorship. Sun donated its reference
implementation for
Java servlets and Java Server Pages to Tomcat after its own Java Web
server was
dropped by iPlanet (the Sun-Netscape alliance). The goal is to create an
open source Java-enabled Web server
for the industry. Burton says Sun's Java Community Process controls the
Java servlet specification and Tomcat
controls the implementation.

A Sun spokeswoman says developers should approach the Java
Community
Process with ideas on Java
development and not Sun.

Until Sun makes a decision on opening Java, getting a Java license can
mean a battle. Cleanroom Java vendor
Tower Technology announced that after over three years of negotiating
it
has finally been granted a license to
Java 2. Tower is also participating in Sun's Java Community Process and
is working with Sun engineers on
passing Sun's compatibility tests. Tower specializes in improving
server-side Java performance and is aiming its
technology at XML servers, personalization portals, data mining, and B2B
exchanges.

"This erases customers' concerns, opens more channels of distribution
for us, and allows a free exchange of
information between us and other Java licensees," says Tower VP
Madison
Cloutier.

Tower's chief competitor is IBM, which last week licensed the IBM Java
developer kit for Linux to
Inprise/Borland. An IBM spokesman says IBM believes it is within the
rights of its Sun license to redistribute a
compatible Java runtime.
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