Item Subject: [HP3000-L] Beware of geeks bearing gifts
Wirt wrote:
>There is a fairly interesting -- and I believe fairly accurate -- opinion
>piece on Java & Sun Microsystems on ABC News' website. Its URL is:
>
>http://www.abcnews.com/sections/scitech/moody21/index.html

Well, I read this article and I'm afraid I think its author is simply
a victim of the Microsoft propaganda machine.  In case anyone hasn't
noticed, Microsoft now appears to be waging an all-out war against the
possibility of competition from Sun and Java.  Microsoft loves to
"helpfully" point out to people anything they can that makes it sound
as though Sun has this deep seated desire to behave, well, like Microsoft.
It sounds to me as though Mr. Moody has spent a wee bit too much time
on the phone with "helpful" Microsoft marketing people.

Nobody seriously thinks Sun is in the Java business out of some idealistic
desire to battle the "evil" Microsoft on behalf of the world's computer
users.  Clearly Sun is yet another computer company fighting for its life
against the Wintel juggernaut.  On the other hand, many people (obviously
myself included) find many compelling reasons to support the growth of
Java, and to resist the soothing Microsoft suggestion that everything
will be all right just as long as we do everything that Bill Gates tells
us to.

The heart of Mr. Moody's article appears to be the following quote:

"Now it is clear that if Sun has its way, any developer making a Java
application will have to pay Sun for the right to use Sun code_including
the Java Virtual Machine code without which no Java application can work."

I fail to understand how anyone familiar with the situation could make
such a comment.  Practically every platform, including the HP3000 and
HP9000, now comes with a vendor provided Java Virtual Machine and runtime,
and every development tool comes with a license to the Java development
environment, so I don't exactly see where Sun is going to suddenly put the
screws to "any developer making a Java application".

Also, if you look inside the cover of the Java Language Specification or
the Java Virtual Machine books from sun, you will see that these are
essentially public specifications, and anyone is free to make their own
implementations thereof.  There are already "cleanroom" implementations
of the Java Virtual Machine and Just In Time Compilers which have none
of the Sun licensing requirements.

>The bottom line of both Ralph Nader's comments and that of the article
>is: Be very wary of anyone who wants to give you free software.

Absolutely.  Sun is clearly going to make money licensing the Java name
and the Java code to operating system makers, NC manufacturers, consumer
device developers, etc., just the way Microsoft licenses Windows 95 and
NT to PC manufacturers, and Windows CE to palmtop and consumer electronics
customers.  But developers are no more going to have to start paying Sun
directly for every application they develop than end users are going to
have to start buying C++ compilers in order to run Windows applications.

The strings attached to Sun's "giving away" of Java are much more obvious
and straightforward than Microsoft's "giving away" of Internet Explorer.

G.