What Happens to Java…

if Sun folds, or even worse gets bought by Microsoft. I have been reading some blog postings that are “all over” on the subject after the big settlement late last week.

And why wasn’t Java mentioned in any of the press related to all of this? Java is what the lawsuit was all about, wasn’t it? Rick Ross at JavaLobby had some interesting stuff in his newsletter. He asks/wants to know if Sun is going to use the money from the settlement to “better”‘ Java. I sure hope so. I have a very awkward feeling right now with the state of the Java universe.

Here is a question to ponder. Would Sun, Java, and IBM be better off if Sun sold Java to IBM? I’m not ready to give my opinion, but I would love to hear what the rest of the Java world thinks about that. I don’t get much feedback here so I think I’ll post that one on JavaRanch. Check back for a link to the post.

This Post Has 6 Comments

  1. Vitaliy

    Selling Java to IBM would lead to downfall of Sun, Java is one of the only things Sun has to offer. No one cares much about Solaris now with the growing popularity of Linux.

  2. Erik

    I’m not sure I agree with you.

    Does Sun really make much money off of Java? I know they made loads of cash selling servers. And now they’re talking about making Solaris subscription based.

    IBM has been leveraging Linux and Java with their consulting business and I think they’re doing well with that combo.

  3. David M.

    I think selling to IBM would benefit Linux a great deal. Selling to Microsoft would only hurt the computing world. Especially Linux users.

  4. Erik

    David,

    I agree with you. Selling Java to IBM would benefit the Linux communtiy a great deal. I think it would also benefit the Java community.

    I think selling to Microsoft wouldn’t help anyone but Microsoft and it’s developers.

  5. Vinny Carpenter

    I think Java is too big and has grown beyond Sun. Even if Sun goes out of business in the next few years, Java will survive. I wish Sun would just submit Java to a non-profit orginization that they can create — IBM did a great job with the Eclipse effort. Support it, pay for it and get the rest of the industry to join you. Sun can pull that off with Java. With companies like IBM, BEA, and Oracle behind Java, this could work.

    Sun has never made any money off Java. I guess maybe the $2 billion they are getting from Microsoft is probably the first real money they’ve gotten out of Java 🙂

  6. Erik

    Hey Vinny,

    I’m glad you added your comments…

    I know you’re a big fan of Java, and not such a big fan of Sun. Me, I’m a big fan of Java, and just as big a fan of Sun (mostly by default because they brought me Java).

    What IBM did with Eclipe was great. I think that Eclipse is an awesome tool, and it floors me every day when I think that it’s free! I think that makes Sun go crazy. They *SO* want to make money off Forte, or whatever tool they’re working on this month for developing Java code. I think they have it in their head that if they can write something like that they will start to make some real money off Java.

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