Java status (was: Re: Wine c.f. Mono)

[Dalibor Topic]

Linus Walleij <triad at ...> writes:

> 
> On Sun, 1 Jan 2006, Andy Burns wrote:
> 
> >> Is Java encumbered by patents, really? Isn't it just the copyrighted 
> >> reference implementation and testsuite that is the crux?
> >
> > You're right, I've never heard of Sun making any threats about 3rd party
> > implementation, just binary distribution and limitations on source access.
> 
> While we're talking about it, does anyone know:
> 
> As far as I understood, IBM (and others) approached Sun to have them Open 
> Source their reference implementation of Java. The answer was "no", to 
> which IBM et al responded by throwing developers at libgcj, classpath and 
> friends so they really started to catch up.
> 
> Was this how the rapid development of libgcj and friends came about or was 
> it a "natural process" i.e som critical momentum or so?
> 

It was the latter. Lots of contributions from a variety of volunteers,
researchers and companies, and growing grass roots support. 2006 is going to be
a fun year.

cheers,
dalibor topic