Sun opens the source code of Java Development Kit (OpenJDK)

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Sun opens the source code of Java Development Kit (OpenJDK)

Some of us might remember that on 17 May 2006 (loooong ago) Sun Microsystems promised to open the source code of Java. All the java enthusiastic have been waiting till today when James Gosling, vice president and a Sun Fellow sent a letter to the community circulating the awesome news of OpenJDK project.

What is the benifit of making the developing kit open. Well, OpenSource is about collecting lots of ideas and put them together. For a long time companies like Microsoft/Apple/Real Network made people believe that if you open your ideas or if you open the source then that is the end of the business. Which is not true at all and OpenSource is the revolution and we have to admit that by looking into the prospect of opensource software. I don’t want to say more on OpenSource, you already might know the benefits of OpenSource.

The adoption of the GPL v2 license for Sun’s Java SE (JDK) and Java ME implementations, and adding this license to Sun’s Java EE implementation. The first release of code for the JDK and for Sun’s Java ME implementation, projects and communities. The release of a road map for future code releases and community development.

James says. "For the open-source JDK components, we chose the GNU General Public License (GPL) version 2 for almost all of the virtual machine, and GPL v2 with the Classpath exception for the class libraries and those parts of the virtual machine that expose public APIs. For Java ME, we went solely with GPL v2."

It’s a very good news for both Java Platform developers and users’ community. For more detail, visit the OpenJDK project home page.