This afternoon I found myself reading an article at The Spot 4 SAP entitled SAP Mobile Engine. Leaving aside the fact that the article hasn’t been written very well at all I want to comment on their continual reference to the Java platform as an “open source technology”. Now the last time I checked Sun still owned the rights to the language and it was their decision as to the changes that are made (please correct me if I’m wrong as I haven’t worked in the Java space for quite some time).
I would like to make the comment that it is possible to write open source software with either Java or .NET and that they choice of technology should in no way affect the identification of the software as open-source. It really annoys me when journalists just don’t get it and claim that just because Java is a “standard” that can be implemented by different vendors it is in any way more open-source than .NET.
Updated: I was pointed to the Open-Source Java Project which is the process by which Sun has announced that it will release its implementation source/details to the community. At it points out the role of the JCP will not change. I guess this shows my first point up as being a little inaccurate. I still hold by my second (and IMHO more important) point which is that you can write open-source software on any technology. And further I don’t believe that by choosing an open-source technology on which your commercial application is necessarily a sound business decision.