“Sun Microsystems took another step toward making Java free
Monday, announcing that developers who ship products based on Sun’s
source code will no longer have to pay royalties to Sun.”
“Sun’s move applies only to Java 2 Standard Edition and its
compiler–developers must still negotiate terms for shipping
products based on Sun’s Java 2 Enterprise Edition and Micro
Edition, which are due out next year. Developers must also still
pay to pass Sun’s compatibility tests and to use Sun’s engineering
support services. However, Sun VP George Paolini said Sun is
looking at ways to make the compatibility tests cheaper.”
“In a keynote at Sun’s Java Business Conference in New York, Sun
CEO Scott McNealy said Sun, “will continue to refine Sun’s open
licensing model in interesting ways.” He also asked for feedback
from developers on the best way to move Java forward, claiming Sun
has a track record of being “open, inclusive and
participatory.“