John R Pierce wrote:
> Les Mikesell wrote:
>> Given that it could have been trivial to include Sun Java ages ago, or at least
>> not intentionally break the jpackage installation methods, I think Red Hat has
>> done more damage to java than any other company and don't see that turning
>> around even if they try at this late date.
>>
>
> no, it wasn't trivial due to primarily licensing reasons.
As it turned out, all they had to do to get the license of their choice was to
ask. Sun is (was...) responsible for more open source code than anyone. But,
Red Hat distributed Netscape back when they didn't like the license. And Debian
included Sun Java in the base distribution once redistribution was allowed where
Red Hat only put it in the update stream for paid subscribers. And in any case,
it would have been trivial to remain compatible with the jpackage nosrc rpms or
include them so users could deal with the license requirements without any other
hassles.
But the worst damage to java was from distributing a non-standard and mostly
non-working version. I doubt if that damage can be undone even if they are
actually willing now to distribute something that makes the OS irrelevant and
applications portable.
--
Les Mikesell
lesmikesell at gmail.com