Re: [ossig] Do we need a local Linux Magazine?

[Kelvin Yap <t2computing@xxxxxxxxx>]

--- Nur Hussein <nhussein@gmail.com> wrote:

> (to be fair, neither is Java, but at least Java 
> runs on Linux)

I'd like to clarify & elaborate more on this.

JDK - Java Development Kit.
API - Application Programming Interface.

I didn't spend much time to study the "political part"
of JDK, so far I only concentrate on the "technical
part - hardcore programming". Below is my limited
understanding, correct me if I were wrong.

Yes, the Sun's official Java Virtual Machine itself is
not open source. But the API is, this is the most
important documentation to Java programmers.

Well, if one really doesn't like the freely
downloadable Sun Official JDK (binary only), one can
try the 100% *open source* alternative, the GNU GCJ -
http://gcc.gnu.org/java/ . Of course, don't question
about the performance... GCJ also have possible patent
trouble vs. Java, much like Linux vs. M$ FAT file
system, Open Office vs. M$ .doc .xls file format.

So, Java is available as an 100% open source GCJ
flavour. The question now is whether one wants to use
the open source flavour ?? The user has to compromise
on performance, and bear the legal risk.

Ok, that's the background information. Let's go back
to magazine articles.

Consider this scenario... M$ isn't open source. But we
can have some nice open source software run on M$
Windows, e.g. open office, php, mysql, perl, python
etc.

Being an OSS run on a proprietary OS doesn't really
devalue the OSS. Therefore, being an "Java OSS" run on
"proprietary JDK" also won't devalue the "Java OSS".

My point is... there are *tons of* "Java OSS" out
there. That's why most technical magazine articles are
concentrate on introducing "Java OSS" instead of the
"somehow proprietary JDK". That is essentially these
"Java OSS" make Java, J2EE so popular today, keep
getting ahead of M$ .NET, FOREVER !!

Examples of popular Java OSS: see here
http://www.java-source.net/ .



=====
Cheers,

Kelvin Yap (kelvin@t2computing.com)
Software Architect
T2COMPUTING.COM


	
		
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