James Gosling, the man who founded programming language Java at Sun Microsystems, announced this morning on his blog that, "through some odd twists in the road over the past year...I find myself starting employment at Google today."

If you haven't been following closely, the move is one that a non-fiction writer could only hope for to make reality sound as good as fiction. It comes in the midst of a lawsuit accusing Google of "knowingly, directly and repeatedly" infringing Oracle's Java-related intellectual property with its Android operating system. Read on for the untangling of the details.

Now, in a move that seems to thumb his nose at both Sun and Oracle, Gosling has joined the one company accused of infringing on the intellectual property he was initially responsible for. What will be his purpose with the Big G? He says that he isn't sure, but that "it'll be a bit of everything, seasoned with a large dose of grumpy curmudgeon."

Some are speculating that Gosling will come over to the Google-side to work on Android, the IP offender in question, while others wonder if "having on your payroll the father of the programming language at issue in the suit will come in handy when it goes to trial."

Gosling joins other big names like Vint Cerf and Tim Bray at the company that intends to harness the world's information. Cerf led the team in the 1970s that created the TCP/IP protocols, which act as the backbone to the Internet. Bray co-invented XML, a standard that has since been used in the development of hundreds of languages, including RSS, ATOM and XHTML. At a company like Google, which has its hands in everything from self-driving cars to virtually replicating every square inch of the earth's surface, one can only guess what purpose yet another leader like Gosling could serve.

No surprise, then, this chain of events has resulted in what seems to be a shaken confidence in Java. Indeed, that seems to be the consensus from a survey taken at JavaOne last fall. The survey was meant to gauge the Java community's thoughts on Oracle and open source.

56% said they were concerned about Oracle's lawsuit against Google, saying they felt that the lawsuit was bad for Java. 13% said they felt the lawsuit would be a good thing for Java.

The survey is not scientific to be sure. It was taken by EnterpriseDB, an open source competitor to Oracle, and taken from a group that has a clear stake in how these things shake out. Nonetheless, it certainly suggests there's plenty of concern about Oracle's leadership and the future of Java.

That move has been well-received, and as a result Google announced today that it is open sourcing two of the projects through the Eclipse Foundation.

The Eclipse Foundation calls this "this is clearly a significant new project announcement, and very good news for Java developers using Eclipse." According to Ian Skerreitt, the foundation's director of marketing, Java is its most popular IDE, with over 65% of those working with Eclipse being Java developers.

Today's announcement is good news for those Java developers, following what seems to be a long string of not-so-good news in terms of open source and Java. For its part, Google says that it hopes that today's move will help grow the open source community around Eclipse. It will also provide the opportunity for other companies to offer enterprise support around the products, something that Google hasn't focused on.

The conflict follows the recent JCP vote on the roadmap for Java SE 7, in which the ASF, along with Google and EC member Tim Peieris voted against its ratification. The new Java Specification Requests were passed, however, by a vote of 12-3.

In today's statement, the ASF accuses Oracle of failing to "uphold their responsibilities" as it provided the Java Executive Committee with licenses "that are self-contradictory, severely restrict distribution of independent implementations of the spec, and most importantly, prohibit the distribution of independent open source implementations of the spec. Oracle has refused to answer any reasonable and responsible questions from the EC regarding these problems."

For its part, Oracle has said that its priority is to "move Java forward." Whether or not the Apache Software Foundation's decision today will have an impact on that remains to be seen.

According to the companies' joint statement, Apple will contribute the key pieces of technology necessary for a Java SE 7 implementation on Mac OS X "including a 32-bit and 64-bit HotSpot-based Java virtual machine, class libraries, a networking stack and the foundation for a new graphical client." The move will make Apple's Java technology available to the open source community.

Apple also confirmed that Java SE 6 will contnue to be available from Apple for Mac OS X Snow Leopard as well as the upcoming OS X Lion. But future versions of Java will come from Oracle. As Apple's Bertrand Serlet notes, "The best way for our users to always have the most up to date and secure version of Java will be to get it directly from Oracle."

Commenting on today's announcement on his blog, James Gosling, the "father of Java," asks, "The two questions that only time can answer are: will both parties actually deliver? and how will this work with Apple's software update center?"

The Apache Software Foundation (ASF) has been unable to certify Java as Oracle, which acquired the language when the company purchased Sun Microsystems, will not provide the test kits available under the suitable license. As the ASF says in yesterday's announcement, "Oracle is violating their contractual obligation as set forth under the rules of the JCP by only offering a TCK license that imposes additional terms and conditions that are not compatible with open source or Free software licenses."

The history of this conflict actually predates Oracle, as Sun too had these restrictive licenses - something that Oracle protested, right up until they bought the company, apparently.

The ASF says it will "terminate its relationship with the JCP if our rights as implementers of Java specifications are not upheld by the JCP Executive Committee to the limits of the EC's ability. The lack of active, strong and clear enforcement of those rights implies that the JSPA agreements are worthless, confirming that JCP specifications are nothing more than proprietary documentation." And if the Apache Software Foundation walks away from Java, then it's a clear statement that Java is not an open language.

Between the patent infringement lawsuit Oracle has filed against Google over Java, the recent decision by OpenOffice.org contributors to fork the project, and now the Apache Software Foundation's vote of no-confidence, Oracle is rapidly losing the support of the open source community, something that may have a ripple effect on the other open source projects under the company's control.

Google's motion refutes Oracle's allegations, claiming it has not infringed on any Oracle IP. contains a "Factual Background" section, detailing the history of Java, its development, Sun's decision to open source part of it, and Oracle's voice among others encouraging the full open-sourcing of Java - right up to the point when Oracle acquired Sun Microsystems.

The motion also details the procedures by which new Java implementations can be developed under a free-of-charge license. "The license," says the motion, "allows developers to create 'clean room' implementations of Sun's Java specifications. If those implementations demonstrate compatibility with the Java specification, then Sun would provide a license for any of its intellectual property needed to practice the specification, including patent rights and copyrights. One example of a 'clean room' implementation of Sun's Java is Apache Harmony, developed by the Apache Software Foundation. The only way to demonstrate compatibility with the Java specification is by meeting all of the requirements of Sun's Technology Compatibility Kit ('TCK') for a particular edition of Sun's Java. Importantly, however, TCKs were only available from Sun, initially not available as open source, were provided solely at Sun's discretion, and included several restrictions, such as additional licensing terms and fees. In essence, although developers were free to develop a competing Java virtual machine, they could not openly obtain an important component needed to freely benefit from Sun's purported open-sourcing of Java."

In other words, despite the gesture of open source, restrictions have been placed on Java's licensing, particularly in the mobile environment. As Google notes, many organizations, including Oracle, have long voiced concerns about these licensing restrictions, urging Sun to fully open-source Java.

The Rise of Mobile, The Rise of Mobile Lawsuits

Of course, Oracle v Google is far from being the only lawsuit in the mobile industry right now. As the graphic from the Guardian below demonstrates, the battle for control of the growing mobile market isn't just a matter of building the best product. In some cases, the strategy seems to include building a strong team of patent attorneys.

Although the Silicon Valley tech press is caught up with iPhone and Android because they're the focus of the Valley's developer ecosystem, that group is "about to get a lot more competition," Kochikar warned, because today Nokia is launching the first touchscreen SDK (software development kit) for feature phones - the phones that still have the largest install base on the planet.

With today's launch of its new Java SDK for Series 40 Touch and Type, the company aims to connect developers to the emerging markets where Java still dominates.

Bringing the Internet to the Rest of the World

The SDK is the first of its kind as it brings the benefit of touch to a new group of consumers, that being feature phone users. It even allows developers to port their existing Nokia smartphone apps to the Java platform with ease. It's the platform, says Kochikar, that will bring the Internet to the rest of the world.

To illustrate this point, Kochikar mentioned an app called VuClip that lets users watch video clips on their mobile phones. The developers of the app were expecting it to sell well in Europe, but were caught a bit off guard when they discovered most of the paying customers were coming from emerging markets instead.

"There is a hunger for apps on these devices and people are willing to pay for the right experience," Kochikar explained.

For developers, building apps for feature phones allows them to not only focus on the sort of success that comes in dollars and cents, but success that can be measured by impact, too.

"Think globally, act locally," was the tagline being touted today. Already developers have built apps for emerging markets that allow Africans to check for counterfeit medicine and apps that help Chinese migrant workers. The Java SDK for feature phones will allow more of these kinds of "impactful" apps to be built, ported from smartphones to feature phones and perhaps most importantly, monetized.

Nokia's close connections to its operator partners and its developer presence in markets worldwide means developers can build apps in the local language, allow users to pay with their local currency and use any checkout mechanism the developers prefer. And thanks to Nokia's support for operator billing, available now in 127 countries and 91 operators, potential customers in these markets can actually buy the applications, even if they don't have (or want to use) a credit card.

Good News for Developers

The good news for developers here is that when customers are allowed to buy apps using operator billing mechanisms, there's a 13-times increase in the number of transactions over credit card billing. That means, simply put, developers will sell more apps. They'll also be able to distribute free apps and sell items, upgrades and other features using in-app purchases, a feature now in beta testing but expected to launch publicly by Q1 2011. Those purchases, too, can be tied to operator billing mechanisms.

Also good news for developers, the 70/30 (developer/Nokia) split on app revenue is being changed as of Oct. 1. Before, the 70% revenue cut earned by the developer was minus operator billing fees. That fee could vary wildly from operator to operator, making it hard to project future earnings. Now developers will receive a flat 60% cut instead, while Nokia takes 40% to even out the discrepancies on the developers' end. For some developers, this will lead to as much as a 50% increase in revenue as Nokia effectively subsidizes some of these applications.

If the potential to sell to nearly all the feature phone users in the world via operator billing mechanisms and with an increased revenue share doesn't attract a developer's attention now, then maybe nothing will. But developers who are ignoring Nokia are ignoring large numbers of users - Nokia has 175 Symbian devices, 45 million touch-enabled smartphone users, and 50 million-plus customers expected for the company's new devices. That's a sizable market, and one that developers should consider, says Kochikar, even if Silicon Valley doesn't.

Disclosure: Nokia paid for this reporter's travel and accommodations to Nokia World 2010.

While that may be true, we think there are a few other things to consider before attempting at making your machine a Java-free runtime environment.

"Java has a less-than-stellar security record. There's actually quite a bit of Java malware out there, generally relying on patched vulnerabilities, as old versions of Java are common on user systems," he wrote when he started the experiment last month.

The biggest issue he ran into, it seems, was actually removing Java itself, which appears to install itself in numerous places throughout your system.

Java likes it on your PC and really doesn't want to let go. Even after you uninstall all the versions listed in your Add/Remove you may find Java components installed in web browsers. Do about:plugins on Firefox or Google Chrome. Do you see Java entries there? I thought so. You may also see plugins from other programs you thought you uninstalled. Do the same for Tools-Manage Add-ons in Internet Explorer. I suppose the uninstallers don't necessarily bother with these browser components. After you disable them in Firefox and/or Chrome, you can delete these plugins by deleting their program files in C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\plugins\ or wherever Firefox is installed.

Seltzer notes that the Wall Street Journal uses it in certain cases and some banking websites he ran into also use it, but otherwise it was pretty much useless. He warns that, before getting rid of Java yourself, "go through your bookmarks and maybe the last week or so of history and look for sites you use that might use Java ".

Beyond websites that still use Java, which are few and far between and have mostly been replaced by Adobe Flash, there are still some apps out there that use Java and the Java Runtime Environment - apps that some of you geeky, business types might be running.

Our favorite non-cloud alternative to Microsoft Office, Open Office, for example, still relies on the JRE to function properly. As does one of the ReadWriteWeb team's favorite website traffic analysis tools, Woopra.

In batting the idea around, Alex Williams, our enterprise editor, noted that a large number of enterprise solutions still rely on Java. Vmware, for example, is introducing platforms to work with both Salesforce and Google that depend on Java to operate. In general, a lot of companies still use Java internally for custom solutions and eradicating it from your machine could stir up some issues.

Were it not for Open Office and Woopra, we might take the plunge, but those are two programs we certainly don't want to give up. For now, we'll just make sure to say "yes" when Java asks us if we want to install the latest update.

We go gaga over great mashups, we drool over high-powered hardware, and we lust for private beta invitations to Google's latest whatever-the-hell-it-is. But none of these would be possible without machines to blast steam through finely ground coffee beans, and baristas with the skill to pull a perfect espresso shot.

So, the next time you start your day with a smashing cup of coffee, look your barista in the eye and say, "Thank you. Thank you for fueling the social media revolution. And - yes, I know people are behind me, but this is important - thank you for the example you set with your attention to detail. Thank you for - no, there's no need to call security. I'm just saying a simple thank-you for everything you're doing for Web 2.0 and - fine, FINE, I'll go."

So where does coffee fit into your dev process? Are you in more of a spiritually grounded green-tea kind of office? Or have you managed to kick the caffeine habit altogether?

More Noise to Signal.

Young's collected works after more than 40 years of making music and film would be a massive enough project - but the most interesting part of the announcement is that the media will be delivered on Blu-ray Disks that will check for updates when new content is available and download it to your local device.

See also our interview with Neil Young, done after his keynote presentation.

Young said on stage today that the sound quality in available technologies has never been good enough to publish his collected works. That's changed with Blu-ray, he says. He's also excited about the way Java allows for sophisticated navigation through a large collection of content. The content is navigated through a filing cabinet GUI containing photos, vidoes and music. When music is played the screen displays a vinyl record being played. More recent content plays on top of more contemporary delivery technology, like CDs. There's notes about songs and albums throughout the collection. It's a strikingly classy interface.

Neil Young famously sung that he'd never do product endorsements and some press asked if today would be the day he sold out. Arguably, that's not the case - launching a new collection of his own legacy of work can hardly be equated with singing for a Pepsi commercial. Young said in a later interview that he's been talking for 15 years about doing a project just like this.

Continued below

Blu-ray

At the JavaOne conference three years ago it was announced that the Java software environment would be included in all Blu-ray Disc players as a mandatory part of the Blu-ray standard. Java powers the interactive menus on Blu-ray disks.

While there's been a morning full of stunning Java demos and it's been presumed that Blu-ray has won the disk war against DVD - news from offsite is less cheery. Ars Technica is reporting that Blu-ray player sales dropped a whopping 40% between January and February. The format also carries some seriously annoying DRM with it.

Will the collected works of Neil Young, with live updates, push some Blu-ray sales? It might.

The Conference

The JavaOne conference is being broadcast live via startup UStream on this page.

One of the highlights of the conference so far is the announcement that Java will now provide content owners and publishers free access to extensive user data in anonymous aggregate. The company is moving towards enabling data mining in a big way.

Stay tuned for an interview with Neil Young on a wide range of topics as my next post.

Disclosure: Sun is a client of my personal consultancy and paid my travel expenses to JavaOne. Despite that I feel a far closer connection to Neil Young than to Sun.