Sun's plans to open-source Java have been ambivalent, but a recent interview with the company's chief open-source officer, Simon Phipps, Sun's Simon Phipps details open source strategy, makes it clear that an open-source license for Java is in the works, and may not be far in the future:

The truth is we're doing it as fast as we possibly can. If I could snap my fingers and make it happen tomorrow, I would. It's not a simple endeavor. You can't just slap a license on things. You have to be sure that you have the rights to every line of code. So we have to work through all sorts of issues—legal, access, encumbrances, relationships with Java licensees. All of these issues will take time to resolve...

I don't think it's going to be very long at all. We have staffers who have instructions that it's going to be open source. They will get it done, and they will get it done soon. With Solaris, Sun lawyers worked on the ownership issues with that code for nearly five years before Solaris was made available for open source. It's not going to take that long with Java.

In the past, Sun's main objection to open-sourcing Java was that none of the true open-source licenses helped ensure compatibility. Compatible Java VM implementations were important in order to prevent fragmentation of the Java space.

A 2002 interview with then-JCP-chair Rob Gingell, Froth and Compatibility, addressed the question of Java fragmentation from the point of view of innovation:

Here's how life works: Assuming a shared initial condition, some derivation will occur, often in cactus- like fashion across an industry through competition. With time, the economic benefit of standardization is sought to codify what has emerged as existing practice. If the derivation branching grows too large, we criticize it for being fragmented. If the derivation is zero or too small, then we criticize it for being stagnant, non-innovative. There's a happy medium in which the "froth" ahead of the standard progresses the industry, but doesn't damage the base of commonality that defines a marketplace.

Sun's long-running fear—in addition to Microsoft hijacking Java, which is now a less realistic worry—was that an open-source Java would lead to many implementations where the "froth" got too far ahead of compatibility, leading to a fragmented Java market place.

Unfortunately, Phipps didn't mention in the interview what new insight led Sun to set aside its fragmentation worries and embrace a fully open-source Java. He did say, however, that open-sourcing Java is part of the company's strategy to open-source its software product portfolio, and that Sun hopes to make money with that strategy by creating volume, which will then lead to the sale of service and support contracts.

Do you believe that Sun's worries over fragmentation were mistaken all along? Or is it the case that the right conditions for open-sourcing Java have arrived? And should we, developers, worry about a fragmented Java market place?