From the Editors: Keeping Sun’s open-source software open
By SD Times Editorial Board
September 1, 2010 —
(Page 1 of 2)
As this issue was going to press, we learned that Oracle had filed suit against Google. Oracle is claiming that by including Java in the Android mobile-phone operating system, Google is willfully violating Sun’s patents on Java. Oracle is demanding that Google stop using Java—and pay triple damages.
While it is far too soon to render an opinion about the merits of Oracle’s claims, we don’t hesitate in saying that this is a troubling development, and is contrary to Sun’s desire that Java be available to “write once, run everywhere.” You can’t run Java everywhere if Oracle enjoins companies from using it. And not just for patent reasons: The legal complaint says, “Google’s Android competes with Oracle America’s Java as an operating system software platform for cellular telephones and other mobile devices.”
In other words, Oracle seems to be saying, competitors shouldn’t be using Oracle technology in their own products, and that includes Sun’s technology. This is, quite frankly, what many observers (including SD Times) were concerned about. Oracle does not have a tradition of playing well with others.
This lawsuit has strong implications for the use of Java by Oracle competitors like IBM (WebSphere), Red Hat (JBoss), SAP (NetWeaver) and others. Now, of course, we must add Google (with Android) to the list of Oracle competitors.
In an unrelated development, a cover story in this issue focuses on Illumos, a project designed to create an open-source version of OpenSolaris that won’t in any way impinge on any of Sun’s licensed code—and which won’t be left at the mercy of Oracle to support.
We applaud and support that effort, as we do all efforts to ensure that open-source software remain available for all reasonable use, including use by competitors of the companies that initiated the open-source project.
As of this writing, Google had no response to Oracle’s lawsuit. But you can expect that this will be a case that we will be watching closely. If you use Java, you should be watching it as well, as it has the potential to chill third-party use of the platform. Which, after all, may be exactly what Oracle has in mind.
Related Search Term(s): Google, multicore, open source, Oracle, Sun
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