So it finally happened, Sun relicensed Java to the GNU Public License (GPL), the most widely used Open Source license.
I welcome this move and look forward to seeing where it will take the Java and open software in general.

According to the theserverside.com: ” The rumors have been confirmed by Sun: Java is going to be released in full under the GPL v2. The initial plan is to release Hotspot and the javac compiler under the GPL v2, with the rest of Java to follow in the first half of 2007. Java EE will also be opened under the GPL, as well as J2ME. The Java specification will remain under the control of the JCP.

The GPLed components will be hosted in the JDK communities on dev.java.net. Initial components (javac and Hotspot, as well as Javahelp) are from the Java 7 codebase, as Java 6 is almost entirely finished; Java 6 will eventually be put under the GPL as time permits.

The key behind moving to the GPL is to drive more volume and more adoption for the platform. The GPL helps get Java into some markets that it hasn’t served as fully as it should – such as educational markets, governments in the developing world, and some commercial customers – as well as, obviously, some distributions of Linux which insist not on Linux-friendly licenses but on actual GPL licensing.

GPLv2 was chosen over GPLv3 for fairly obvious reasons: GPLv3 isn’t finished yet! Sun is, they said, working with the FSF on defining GPLv3.”

• The Serverside: Sun relicenses Java under GPL
• Slashdot: Sun Open Sources Java Under GPL
• CW.dk: Sun slipper Java fri som open source

Claus Höfele has written a nice introduction to 3D graphics on Mobile Java Devices.

This article, the first in a two-part series, describes the Mobile 3D Graphics API (JSR 184). The author introduces you to 3D programming for Javaâ„¢ mobile devices and shows how you can work with lights, cameras, and materials.

Playing games on mobile devices is a fun pastime. Up until now, hardware performance has favored classic game concepts that use addictive game play, but simple graphics. Today, Tetris and Pac-Man are increasingly complemented by two-dimensional action games with extensive graphics. Consequently, the next step is to move toward 3D graphics. Sony’s PlayStation Portable shows the graphics power you can put into a mobile device. Although the average mobile phone is technologically behind this specialized game machine, you can see where the market is heading. The Mobile 3D Graphics API (M3G for short), defined in Java Specification Request (JSR) 184, is an industry effort to create a standard 3D API for mobile devices that support Java programming.

M3G’s API can be divided roughly into two parts: immediate and retained mode. In immediate mode, you render individual 3D objects. In retained mode, you define and display an entire world of 3D objects, including information on their appearance. You can imagine immediate mode as the low-level access to 3D functions, and retained mode as a more abstract, but also more comfortable, way of displaying 3D graphics. In this article, I’ll explain the immediate mode APIs. The second part of this series shows how to use retained mode.

Article: 3D graphics for Java mobile devices, Part 1: M3G’s immediate mode

[tss] Joseph Ottinger wrote: “Timothy Cramer, Director of Engineering for Netbeans, was interviewed by TSS, focusing on Netbeans’ adoption rate, positioning, future capabilities, and – of course – comparison with Eclipse“.

* Interview with Netbeans Director of Engineering Timothy Cramer | TheServerSide