Practical Technology

Apache is stuck between a rock and a hard place. It can’t certify that its open-source Java, Harmony is Java compatible. Oracle, like Sun before it, won’t release the needed certification tests. Without that Apache can’t certify that Harmony is really Java for legal purposes. Adding insult to injury, IBM, which had been Harmony’s biggest [...]

[Read more →]

Oracle is suing Google over the use of Java in Android and that may change everything about Java and open-source development. That’s one heck of a claim. Unfortunately, the experts agree. Java, while never a key language in Linux, is the core language for literally hundreds of software development companies and organizations. They range in [...]

[Read more →]

Okay, I tried to resist, but I can’t help myself: I told you so. I’ve said for over a year that with Oracle in charge, OpenSolaris would be toast. I had people tell me that I was just spreading FUD. Even after it became abundantly clear that Oracle was going to let it die off, [...]

[Read more →]

Nexenta, an open-source organization that’s been trying to “combine the OpenSolaris kernel with the GNU/Debian user experience,” has announced a new open-source effort called Illumos. Nexenta proclaims this “is a 100% community-driven and -owned effort that aims to provide an alternative to a critical part of the OpenSolaris distribution, freeing it from dependence on Oracle’s [...]

[Read more →]

I get that Oracle runs on open-source software. I know that Oracle is a major Linux supporter. But, please, please don’t mistake Oracle as an open-source, open-core, or any other kind of “open” business at heart. Larry Ellison, Oracle’s CEO, is all about making billions of dollars. There’s nothing wrong with that. That’s what all [...]

[Read more →]