Java: no longer free as in speech

El Reg has breaking news that the JCP vote on the Java 7/8 JSR’s has passed. Apache and Google voted no, and the rest of the players sadly (but perhaps unsurprisingly) voted yes. This effectively changes the game around Java standards stewardship – you might say it turns the JCP into “Just Customers, Please“, removing any real community input that Oracle doesn’t choose to accept.

There are plenty of past links to learn about what this really means, and I’m sure that Stephen Colebourne will have some insightful commentary once he wakes up and has a cup of jav… er, tea.

A key indicator of the feeling of the JCP are the signing statements that most of the “Yes” voters supplied: all (except Oracle) agreed with Apache and Google that the FOU restrictions Oracle is mandating are objectionable and inappropriate (not to mention apparently incompatible with the JSPA). If only wishes were horses, and signing statements had real force, then we could all be happy.

I’m not that surprised that the larger software vendors cast their votes where they think their bottom lines are, and went with a “Yes”, FOU reservations in their signing statements notwithstanding. I am a little surprised that Eclipse and Red Hat caved into Oracle, given that their businesses are also open source, and they’re clearly going to have to pony up to Oracle somehow to get sufficient licenses to continue shipping Java related software.

Don’t get me wrong: for all the Java developers who don’t care about how their underlying technology is licensed, I’m happy for you! You now have Oracle’s Java roadmap, and presumably Oracle will start delivering some cool Java technology. But please: don’t fool yourself or your friends into believing that the Java standards ecosystem is open, free, or community based in any real way. Oracle owns the court now, and don’t be surprised if it starts charging some people for renting balls along with court time to play.

It’s a sad day, since I really do like programming in Java. I still will, sometimes; but not as often. And not without realizing that Java is no longer free as in speech. We’ll see how long that Java remains free as in beer, now that Oracle’s realized they run the JCP.

ApacheCon NA 2010 Wrapup

Along with a few news tidbits today, here’s my long-awaited ApacheCon NA 2010 blog wrapup, featuring highlights from attendees.

And of course there’s the official roundup from the show floor at ApacheCon. If I missed your great blog post about this year’s ApacheCon, let me know!

In other news, BarCampApache Sydney is this weekend, on 11-Dec with it’s own press release and discussion group.

And today is the big day! The Java EC’s vote on the Java 7/8 JSRs concludes today, which will determine the openness – or lack thereof – of the future of Java. I’m sure that Stephen Colbourne will be covering it.

Ask Me about FREE Apache Contributor buttons!

Back once again at ApacheCon, I’ll be giving out free Apache “Contributor” feather buttons. All you have to do to get your button is let me know that you’ve donated funds to the Apache Software Foundation. Any amount qualifies for your free button!

If you’re interested in sponsoring the ASF at a higher level, we’d love that too, and I might have a bunch of buttons for you!

You may also see a number of people at ApacheCon featuring giant “Ask Me!” buttons with the Apache feather on them. Please – follow directions, and ask us your questions! A number of knowledgeable members are wearing these buttons, and will be happy to answer your questions about what the larger ASF is all about, and why the organization behind all of our great projects is also important to support.

For those who can’t make it to ApacheCon, please feel free to contact me offline or on the mailing list for your button.

Reminder: Apache and the feather logo are trademarks of The Apache Software Foundation, along with the names of our many projects – and should be used with respect both for the ASF as a whole and for the many committers in our project communities.

Signup for FREE events at ApacheCon next week!

ApacheCon NA offers a whole host of options next week in Atlanta, GA. There are a wide variety of trainings being taught by some of the key committers on Apache projects (look for the combination discount code!) on Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday thru Friday we have 5 tracks of great sessions, covering everything from business case studies to detailed technical talks.

We also offer some free events – these are open to the public, even if you can’t attend ApacheCon sessions or trainings. We do ask that you sign up in advance if possible, so organizers know how large a crowd to expect.

  • BarCamp Apache is free and runs during the day on Monday and Tuesday. Sign up, show up, and lead your own session with other BarCamp attendees!
  • Apache Meetups are hosted Monday through Thursday nights, starting at 8pm. We have meetups covering Apache projects like Hadoop, Lucene & Solr, Cassandra, Tomcat, Subversion, Deltacloud, Felix & OSGi, and of course the HTTP server. Meetups are free to attend by all.

If you are interested in any of the paid sessions or free events at ApacheCon, then you can show your interest by signing up on these popular social networks:

Follow @ApacheCon to learn more!

OpenJDK += Oracle, IBM

The big news this week is the sudden move by IBM to join with Oracle in collaborating on the OpenJDK. You can read the formal joint press release, or browse some of the first set of thoughtful commentaries here:

Required reading: everyone should re-read the ASF’s open letter to Sun Microsystems about the JCP. If you don’t remember why that letter is important, then go back through the Graphical Overview of Sun’s JSPA violations. If you like using the word “open” anywhere near the word “Java”, then you need to remember that they don’t really go together these days.

Apache new(s): officers, projects, commits

A brief roundup of recent Apache news:

Please welcome a number of new top level projects that have recently been created:

  • Please welcome the Apache jUDDI project, a Java implementation of the UDDI v3 specification, which graduated in August from the Web Services project to be come a top level project.
  • Welcome also the Apache Pig project, a platform for analyzing large data sets often used with Apache Hadoop – where it recently decided to move from being a subproject to a TLP in it’s own right.
  • Likewise, the Apache Hive project has also split off from Apache Hadoop as well, providing a data warehouse providing a simple query language called Hive QL.
  • The Apache Shiro project recently graduated from incubation to become a TLP, and provides a security framework for authentication, authorization, cryptography, and session management.

Finally, I’d like to extend the appropriate thanks and appreciation (which are very large!) to our recently outgoing executive officers:

  • Justin Erenkrantz, our outgoing President, who’s literally traveled the world speaking at events and companies on the ASF’s behalf.
  • Sander Striker, our outgoing Executive Vice President, who’s also been a help in outreach and our infrastructure in many areas.

July Apache news roundup: Greg! Adobe+Day! FOP! FOP?

A brief listing of some of the news around the ASF this past month.

Oh, and the ASF elected a new board of directors as well – there are some different (and one new) faces, but overall, we expect steady sailing into better waters.

Want to get your own news about Apache projects? Read or feed from the announce list, official Foundation and project blogs, or get the Planet Apache community perspective.

Apache is at at OSCON!

For those of you lucky enough to be attending OSCON this week in Portland, there will be a number of well-know Apache folk there, as well as some talks about Apache projects. Plus, the ASF has an official exhibitor’s booth, #812 at the expo.

Sadly, I won’t be attending, but I did pick out a handful of cool Apache-related OSCON sessions you should check out. Be sure to stop by the ASF booth and say hi to Sally, Justin, and all the Apache volunteers who will be there to answer your open source questions, Apache Way style.

While OSCON is about everything open source, Apache both as a Foundation and a community of projects is about a specific kind of open source. The power of “Community Over Code” which epitomizes much of The Apache Way that Apache projects follow is brought to light by a great blog posting by Noah Slater of his CouchDB Retrospective. Thanks Noah for a great essay on your journey to a true community led project!

Have fun at OSCON – wish I were there!

Congratulations to the new Apache Board

The Apache Software Foundation held it’s Annual Member’s Meeting this week and cast votes to elect a new board of directors as we do each year. We also elected a number of new potential members, who may be receiving their private invitations shortly.

The new 2010-2011 Board of Directors comprises:

  • Shane Curcuru
  • Doug Cutting
  • Bertrand Delacretaz
  • Roy T. Fielding
  • Jim Jagielski
  • Sam Ruby
  • Noirin Shirley
  • Greg Stein
  • Henri Yandell

We welcome Noirin Shirley, who will be a new face on the board this year. We also welcome back Henri, Sam, and Bertrand who have served on the board in the past; the remaining directors are incumbents.

A big round of thanks went out during our meeting (on irc) for all of the non-returning directors Brett, Geir, Brian, and especially for Justin Erenkrantz who has also been serving as the Foundation’s President as well as a director.

See also the official ASF Foundation blog posting with the announcement.

A graphical history of the directors of the ASF is also available.

Likely Fraud Alert: “apache-project dot org”

Several people have contacted the ASF recently asking about an “Apache Indonesia Project”, something to do with “Digitization of Indonesian Population”, and/or something to do with an Apache 4.3 database server. The reports reference the domain name “apache-project dot org” (which I won’t link directly to here).

PLEASE NOTE: all of these projects or organizations have nothing to do with either the Apache Software Foundation, nor anything to do with any Apache projects. Their use of the “Apache” name is certainly not approved, and it is likely a violation of the ASF’s trademarks. Any references to an “Apache 4.3 – anything” are either bogus or a direct violation of our trademarks, since the ASF ships no such product.

Unfortunately, we’ve had a couple of recent reports of people sending them cash to get some sort of training DVD for an outsourcing project, and then wondering why they never hear back from the organization. Sadly, it seems that some scammer has decided to try to make some fast cash using the Apache name.

Remember: software from the ASF is always free to use following the conditions in our license, and the ASF will never ask for money for the software products that any of our projects create, nor to participate in any of our mailing lists. The ASF certainly appreciates anyone who voluntarily chooses to Sponsor the ASF, but material donations are never expected nor solicited in exchange for any Apache software.

If you’re ever in doubt about the source of information, remember: if it’s not hosted at apache.org, it’s probably not officially from the ASF. Much like here at Community Over Code: posts here are Shane’s own thoughts, and do not reflect the official position of the ASF. In this case, however, I’m confident that many other ASF members are equally upset about this seeming mis-use of our good name.