Did I miss something in the JCP, or is this another weird use of Sun's own rules for the Java trademark? (Sure, it's Sun's trademark, but they do have rules for how it's to be used...)

It's a shame about the name, because it looks like a really nice suite of stuff...

Could we create the "Apache Java Application Suite" over at the ASF? We've got good parts too - Apache Geronimo, Apache Tomcat, Apache MyFaces (JSF), etc...

When Firefox spins off and soaks a core, you don't actually notice until you see the one cpu meter pegged... Ok, maybe it's not a downside...

From my sister : http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/10/26/smashing_pumpkins

Over half a mile, at 250 miles an hour...

Seems like Sun sent up a trial balloon regarding the license they'd use for their implementation of Java SE. Why a trial balloon? Spokesman Russ backed away a little...

Whatever, Russ - it's a good choice if you go that way. (...as I've said before...)

I think this press release from Oracle is a hoot. "We take Red Hat, de-brand it, and then fix it!"

Seriously, this is an interesting quandary for Red Hat - they have Oracle nibbling at them from the top, and Ubuntu (my favorite distro) from the bottom. Disruption in an ecosystem that was considered itself disruptive only a few years ago...

Two days ago, I wrote this

Now, the subject material is gone.

I'm sorry if anyone caught grief because of my comments. Going forward with that page was a Good Thing, a good decision, and a great step forward.

Here's a hint - you aren't going to get it right the first time, and that's ok. Openness is hard. It really is. And there are lots of us out here that want to help. Yeah, my comments were a bit snarky, and for that I apologize, but I really do want to see this succeed for you.

Let us help.

One step closer... The Apache Board today voted to make the Apache Harmony project a TLP. All we need to do now is wait for the completion of the Incubator PMC vote.

hilarious

(tip o' the hat to Dalibor)

I'd like to take a poll. I know it's easy for me to do this, because no one reads this, and thus not much work to tally the results :

Question #1 : Do you believe that the JDK is a common term to describe the JRE + 'standard' tools?

Question #2 : Do you expect that you can get a JDK from any vendor, such as IBM, BEA, Sun, Apple?

I say yes to both...

Today Sun put up a new page for the open-source Java efforts, announcing... what appears to be a trial balloon for the new names of their upcoming open source communities around Java. They did choose a rather odd, asymmetric naming scheme, choosing "OpenJDK", "OpenJavaEE" (pronounced "Oh, JEE"?), and "Mobile & Embedded", but it is a step forward.

First, maybe I'm just being picky, but I think that "Sun Microsystems will launch the open-source implementations" should be changed to "...our open-source implementations" in recognition that Sun's implementations of these technologies is one of many. Java is a multi-implementation ecosystem, which is one of it's best aspects, and there are other open source implementations in progress in Java SE, Java EE, and probably ME. I'm just saying... To be fair, they do get it right in the paragraph describing "OpenJDK" community, where they say "Sun's implementation of Java SE".

Next, consider adding links to stuff that does exist - like Glassfish. Also, why this weird statement about how "OpenJavaEE" will now be the place that

...governs the development of specifications, technologies, and products that work together to provide enterprise-level solutions under the Java EE paradigm.

Isn't the place that governs the development of specifications the JCP?

Now, as the name "OpenJDK" is so odd, I'm expecting that it's a placeholder until some internal battle is decided, and it will be renamed "OpenJavaSE" (pronounced "Oh Jeeze"?). Please don't do this. Please. There are several Open Java SE communities (and open JDK communities too) out there already, and we're doing just fine, thanks. Apache Harmony, Kaffe, JamVM, GNU Classpath, just to name a few. Yes, Java is your trademark, but it's now an ecosystem too, and that's what makes it valuable. Don't squeeze it too tight.

Like most people in software, and especially open source, email is central to my life. It's how I do the majority of my communications, it's how I track things, it's how I spend a significant portion of my time. For years, Apple OS X was my main operating environment, and therefore all my mail was on whatever laptop I was using at the moment. First an iBook, then a 15" Ti, then another 15" Al, a 17" Al, another 15" Al (anyone want to buy one?) and now a 15" intel (dual core! dual core!). But when I want to IBM, I had a problem - the standard corporate system was Windows, and all corporate email was done on Notes. Now Notes on Windows is a totally different experience if you are used to ... modern mail clients. That's really because Notes isn't a mail system, it's an app dev environment, and I suppose that the Lotus people never understood that "software isn't finished until it can send mail" is really a joke.

Anyway, I schlepped around the world with both my Mac and my Thinkpad for 6 months. I joined intel, and did the same with Intel's Thinkpad (although it did have Outlook, which at least is a normal mail client). But last Christmas I gave up. After trying a few mail clients on Windows, I settled on Thunderbird and moved. It was painful for bunches of reasons. First and foremost, at some point Apple's Mail.app switched from mbox to their own format. Second, Mail.app is slick, and mail clients on Windows are pretty bad by comparison. I suspect that MSFT killed the ISV market with Outlook and Outlook Express. Thunderbird worked, though, and is multi-platform, so I switched to that.

Recently, I got a MacBook Pro because clearly I need it for evaluation of the core duo and open source and (mumble) and... :) Seriously - via the Parallels and virtualization, I can run both windows and linux, so I can do all my Harmony build work on the road on one machine (yes, I was carrying 2 machines again, and actually now three - mac, ubuntu thinkpad and windows thinkpad...). So I wanted to solve my mail woes once and for all. Enter IMAP.

Working on 3 machines, I wanted to have a consistent view of the Harmony mail list - what I had read, answered, etc, on whatever environment I happened to be working in. So I tried a few providers (pobox - who I adore for forwarding service, Runbox and Tuffmail) and settled on Tuffmail (www.tuffmail.com). The reasons were that they support server side scripting (necessary for having a consistent view of mail no matter what machine...) and it has the feel of a mail service provider that does retail only for beer money. IOW, they appear to be worrying about big clients rather than lots of people like me, and I figured that therefore I'd get great service. I wasn't wrong - I sent a note to support one saturday morning asking a question and I got an instant reply. I was able to chat with the support person for a few iterations asking about their machine room, reliability, the colo, and I got smart and useful information. If this was their 1st level support, I was darn impressed. (Ever call your cable provider about a mail issue???). So I started doing all my Harmony mail on tuffmail. Worked well.

Last week, the POP server that I have an account on died. As in "it's dead, Jim". It was the mail server of a friend's company, and he was letting me have an account there. Very convenient. However, there was no backup machine. Very inconvenient. So they switched over to Google Apps and wished me luck :), and I decide to go "all in" with IMAP. All my mail traffic (except Intel mail for security reasons) now goes to IMAP - personal, open source lists, everything. I've proven again to myself that Tuffmail's support is very good - I thought I had deleted a folder of important mail, and I got a response to my frantic email to support w/in minutes. They did inform me that it was my fault - I somehow did screw up - and then promptly gave me a new folder with a very recent backup of my whole tree. Within the hour of my first mail. And, as a bonus, they didn't call me a moron, which they had every right to. It turns out that I didn't actually delete the folder, I moved it accidentally to an adjacent one. I heart tuffmail.

Anyway, I'm now migrating all my old mail archives from the Thinkpad to the IMAP server. It's so convenient - add the IMAP account in thunderbird on the thinkpad, create the folders, and just drag. Simple. As a bonus, I can see my mail from Versmail on my Treo. One view of it all - what's read, what's answered, etc. Wish me luck :)

(And yes, I realize I'm a luddite...)

Ok, that's not really true. I just wanted to write that.

Simon pointed this out to me. What they really said was this. My read is that they seem to think that the GPL v2 is actually compatible with a whole bunch of OSS licenses that the FSF says are not, because nothing in the exception removes the issues for which the FSF claims the other licenses are incompatible. Fun.

So what does this mean? Does mean that the license that MySQL is under is now incompatible with the GPL? If not, can you use a snippet of it as a "de-Stallman-izer" to allow you to combine GPL code with Apache License code? (Answer : no )

If you read down the page, the list of packages that are covered by this exception includes just one, APR, the Apache Portable Runtime, under the Apache License. I guess MySQL wanted to use it...

Take this a step further. Suppose you did the same thing with a piece of code and then put under GPL + Exception and also remove 2.2, the requirement in the exception for source re-distribution. Does that work? I don't think so - they acknowledge that this isn't compatible with the GPL where they say "If you create or distribute a work which is a Derivative Work of both the Program and any other work licensed under the GPL, then this FLOSS Exception is not available for that work"

Of course, since it hasn't been certified by the OSI, this means that MySQL isn't open source any longer. Unless you combine it with GPL-ed code, and then it is. Magically. Isn't OSS licensing fun?