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0 pointsthescriptkiddie10y ago0 comments

I think an even better analogy would be:

Google and Oracle and a bunch of other companies all make cars. All of the cars have a gearshift with the same pattern, because long ago the company who built the first car encouraged other carmakers to copy their design. But then Oracle buys the company who built the first car and tries to sue Google (and only Google) for copying their shift pattern.

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3 comments · 1 top-level

alok-g10y ago· 2 in thread

Did Sun encourage others to copy the design though (genuinely asking)? They allowed others to use their designs. I have been under the impression that while Java was open-sourced, there was a a specific clause in the license to prevent what Google did.

Teckla10y ago

Did Sun encourage others to copy the design though (genuinely asking)?

My understanding, which may be incorrect, is that Sun intended for their JVM to be the reference version, and they envisioned a lot of companies creating their own competing (but compatible) JVMs.

I don't recall any hints or suggestions "copying" the Java API would be a problem. I believe Sun planned on making money by charging for Java implementations to be tested against the TCK in order to earn the Java label.

alok-g10y ago

I had read somewhere long time back that mobile devices were explicitly excluded from this in the license.

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