The JavaOne Conference for Java developers opens today in San Francisco, with Sun giving a welcome gift of source code to attendees.
It’s not as dramatic as fully opening up Java and tossing it to the open source community under GPL terms. But on Monday, when Sun opens its tenth JavaOne Conference, the company will make a few pieces of technology more open that before.
At the conference, Sun will release the source code for the Java Application Server and the Java Enterprise Server Bus. Code for both items had been proprietary, like much of the Java technology, and not available publicly.
Numerous other firms have opened up code in this manner. Sun’s reason for doing so will be to encourage development of more Java applications. With more applications, Sun hopes to broaden demand for its hardware and operating system solutions.
“Developers are the key to our success,” said Joe Keller, Sun’s vice president of marketing for application developer platforms. “But it’s what they do with the technology that makes a difference.”
Mr. Keller estimates 700 million PCs globally use Java and have an implementation of the Java Virtual Machine installed. He also estimates 708 million mobile handsets use Java, according to MarketWatch.
Sun chairman and CEO Scott McNealy will join developers at 12:30 PDT for a brief open mic session and take questions from them. It will be interesting to find out more about the company’s plans for interoperability with longtime rival Microsoft and its .NET technology.
For the first time in many years, Microsoft will have a presence at JavaOne, setting up a booth in the exhibitors hall. On Wednesday, a full slate of Java and .NET topics will be addressed in several tech sessions.
One late session at 7:30, On The Couch with Sun and Microsoft, will be an informal session where speakers from both companies will mingle with developers and discuss interoperability.
David Utter is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business. Email him here.
