“During the first years of Java’s phenomenal growth in
popularity, I fully endorsed Sun’s controlling authority over Java.
Sure, Sun did it in part to make money on licensing (as if that’s a
bad thing), but the bottom line was that Sun had no choice but to
assert its control.”
“Microsoft was itching to distort Java into a Windows-centric
language, thereby undermining Sun’s effort to promote Java as
platform independent. Regardless of whether you think Sun was
successful at making Java platform independent, the only way Sun
had a prayer of achieving its goal was to prevent companies such as
Microsoft from coopting Java.”
“Things have changed, especially in the past year, and Sun
is recognizing that it can now operate with less fear of
Microsoft’s influence over Java. As a result, Sun is now
considering releasing Java under the Sun Industry Standards Source
License (SISSL, pronounced “sizzle”). I’m not sure anyone
fully understands the ramifications of the SISSL yet, but most
people speculate that it will allow Sun to have final say over what
constitutes the official version of Java.”