13.November.2006—Sun believes deeply in creating communities and sharing innovations and technologies to foster more participation. Today in a historic move, Sun is opening the door to greater innovation by open sourcing key Java implementations—Java Platform Standard Edition (Java SE), Java Platform Micro Edition (Java ME), and Java Platform Enterprise Edition (Java EE)—under the GNU General Public License version 2 (GPLv2), the same license as GNU/Linux. Sun is now the biggest contributor to the open-source community. Already Sun has released open-source implementations of its Solaris Operating System, NetBeans, Project Looking Glass, Project JXTA, Jini, OpenOffice, OpenSPARC, and Java EE technologies and is continuing on its path to open all of its middleware. By adding a second GPLv2 license to Java EE, which was previously available under the CDDL license through Project Glassfish, Sun is now open sourcing all core Java technologies under the same license. Through this move, Sun is helping to:
Enlisting the World to Innovate
For the past 11 years, Java technology has enabled developers to Write Once, Run Anywhere. Sun's commitment to compatibility and choice has made Java the most widely deployed application platform. Java technology is currently used on more than 4 billion devices worldwide, and the Java ME platform ships on more than eight of every 10 mobile handsets. Sun believes Java technology has reached the right level of maturity, adoption, and innovation—with widespread use across enterprises and devices—to move into the next stage of its evolution. In the largest single contribution under the GNU GPL, Sun is releasing all of its key Java implementations under this widely respected free-software license:
Developers wanting to get started right away can take advantage of the best tool for open-source Java application development: the NetBeans Integrated Development Environment (IDE). The NetBeans IDE provides complete support for the entire Java platform, from Java ME to Java SE to Java EE. To further speed time to market, Sun is also providing pre-built NetBeans projects at netbeans.org for the Java language components being open sourced and is making the Sun Studio development environment available at developers.sun.com/sunstudio for the native Java language components. Open-Source Opportunities
By open sourcing its Java implementations, Sun will open new market opportunities, fuel innovation, and drive broader adoption of this Web 2.0 platform while minimizing fragmentation in the mobile community by delivering a consistent application platform across devices.
Sun is taking careful and deliberate action as it open sources its Java technology implementations to help ensure that Java remains a central unifying standard for the Internet. Whether developers and customers choose to use Sun's commercial Java platforms or new open-source implementations, Java technology will continue to deliver the compatibility, stability, and quality required to turn Web 2.0 advancements into competitive advantage. Go to sun.com/opensource/java for more information. |
Get Involved
Participate in the new open source Java communities:
OpenJDK, Mobile & Embedded and the GlassFish community.
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