“According to eWEEK.com, there’s an internal debate going on at Sun whether to open-source Java. (Insert typical response: “It’s about time!”) Company spokespersons have no official comment, as might be expected, but perhaps we could hear confirmation or denial as early as May 16, at the JavaOne conference. One commentator said, “Sun should endorse PHP and go one step forward and make sure the ‘P’ languages run great on the JVM [Java virtual machine] by open-sourcing Java.” Would this move Java up the desirability scale in your eyes? Could this be a way to help improve what’s lacking in Java?”
i think they’ll. As they’ve opened up Solaris & Sun Sparc, then opening Java would be to their benefit as they could drive the standard forward, otherwise gcj (GNU Compiled Java) as well as Apache’s implementation for Java will be knocking on their doors. Of course both are WIP but that’s reason enough for the JCP people to sit up & smell the roses. If this does happen then one would see lots of development in the mobile space.
Sun makes Java licence more Linux friendly - vnunet.com
Sun to open-source Java
This was a move expected. Open-sourcing of Java would leave to greater development to the language & the framework around it as well as lots of GNU/Linux, BSD & Open Solaris boxes floating around. Much more versatility/diversity than before.