Promise Kept: Sun Delivers Open Source Java

“Sun Microsystems today will announce it’s released a fully
buildable Java Development Kit (JDK) for Java Platform Standard
Edition (Java SE) under the GNU General Public License (GPL)
version 2. Sun is planning a formal announcement today at its
JavaOne conference in San Francisco.

“The company said last November it intended to make the code
available under the GPL once it worked out all of the legal snags,
since it did not own all of the six million lines of code used to
build Java.

“There are a few remaining bits of code that cannot be GPLed
because Sun doesn’t own them and the owner is not willing to open
source the code. Sun will release those encumbered bits as binary
plug-ins for the buildable code, according to Rich Sands, community
marketing manager for the Open JDK community…”

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