“Sun Microsystems Inc. Vice President Jim Mitchell was on the
hot seat last night, defending Sun’s Community Source License for
Java before a roomful of developers.”
“Level one, for research and development, lets licensees
download source code but requires them to send back bug fixes and
publish source for others. Level two, for internal deployment of
Java binaries, encompasses the R&D license and requires
licensees to pass Sun’s compatibility tests and publish
specifications. Level three, for commercial shipment of Java
binaries, encompasses the other licenses and requires
volume-related payments to Sun, adherence to Sun’s upgrade
schedule, and return of all changes to other licensees.”
“But many of the panelists, which included several Open Source
companies, said Sun has not yet gone far enough.”
“The Jini source license is 20 pages long, and panelists said it
was too scary for developers without lawyers to sign. Mitchell said
he “fears for the length” of the Java 2 license, due next week, and
will work to shorten Sun’s licenses.”