Re: PostgreSQL in the press again

After a long battle with technology, thhal@mailblocks.com (Thomas Hallgren), an earthling, wrote:
> The JDK/JRE licensing in itself has never been a problem in any
> projects where I have been involved, nor any other Java project that
> I'm aware of. You just don't bundle the JRE, you assume that the
> customer has it installed.

Right, you have to "assume that the customer has it installed."

>>  - Due to licensing complexities, it's WAY more complex to deploy
>>    Java-based apps than C-based apps.  The average Linux or BSD
>>    distribution contains hundreds if not thousands of apps
>>    deployed in C; doing the same for Java has proved more than
>>    troublesome.

> Funny, I've been writing Java apps for the better part of 6 years
> now. I've *never* experienced any licensing complexities *what so
> ever*. Many thousand users use Java on Linux and FreeBSD and they
> are not violating any licenses.

Tell me how many Linux distributions come with Java(tm) and Java(tm)
applications installed by default.  :-)

The answer is pretty clear; the licensing of Blackdown mandates that
installation of Java(tm) be done separately, which _severely_ limits
the incidence of this.  I see, on Debian, a few dependancies on some
form of JDK/JRE; it's generally staying with Java 1.1 where there are
feasible if limited "free software" options...

Which means that systems cannot and do not include either Java(tm)
(or, as a result, Java(tm) applications).  For them to do so would
indeed require violating Sun's licenses.

This doesn't prevent adding Java(tm) as an "aftermarket add-on."  But
it is clearly that, an "aftermarket add-on."  Java just isn't a "first
class citizen" that can be considered ubiquitous the way C and C++
are.
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