Ubuntu Founder Blasts Oracle's Java Lawsuit

Internet News ^ | August 16, 2010 | Sean Michael Kerner

[nickcarraway]

Mark Shuttleworth, the founder of Ubuntu Linux, says Oracle's move is "going to be a significant setback for their relationship with the broader open source community."

Before it was purchased by Oracle, Sun Microsystems enjoyed a strong relationship with the open source community, particularly for its Java programming language, which the company evolved over time to adapt to an open source framework.

But last week Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) surprised the open source community with a patent infringement suit against Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), over the search giant's use of Java in Android, its open source mobile operating system. Datamation reports on what a key open source advocate, Ubuntu founder Mark Shuttleworth, has to say about the impact of Oracle's suit.

Last week's move by Oracle to sue Google over Java use in the Android open source mobile operating system, may well end up having an impact that effects far more that just Android. And that has some key stakeholders in the open source community concerned.

Mark Shuttleworth, founder of Ubuntu Linux, is among those in the community who don't see a positive outcome from Oracle's lawsuit, which was based around claims of Linux-based Android wrongfully treading on Oracle's patented Java code and copyrights.

[econjack]

I don't know the details of the suit, but my guess is that this is going to generate a lot of ill-will against Oracle, given the large Open Source following.

[DJtex]

Totally incorrect! It’s Google’s non-use of Java. They created their own clone of Java for Android. Oracle says that this clone stole from Java without crediting where it came from.

[Michael Barnes]

I’m thinking early SCO here.
Oracle makes (mostly) good products, but their licensing is astronomical these days and their support sucks wind(BAD!) as of the last couple years. They don’t need to be suing over Java, not unless their financials are sucking wind.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Could get ugly.

[djf]

There are alternatives.

[ShadowAce]

[martin_fierro]

wewt!

[djf]

IIRC, DB2 can be set up to “front end” Oracle.

Then, as you read/write DB objects, it reads them from Oracle (if they don’t exist in DB2 format), and writes them back in DB2 format.

So as you run along, it’s a non-disruptive way to convert your db.

Or if you want you can just go balls to the wall and do a db copy or re-org and all of it will get migrated to DB2.

I’ve worked around DB2 for more than two decades.
It is by far the most reliable, recoverable, and robust database system there is.

[Lees Swrd]

Talk about stealing,Oracle does nothing but remove the RedHat branding of their operating system and call it their own that is all oracle is Red Hat without Red Hat Linux there would be no oracle.

[TChris]

Talk about stealing,Oracle does nothing but remove the RedHat branding of their operating system and call it their own that is all oracle is Red Hat without Red Hat Linux there would be no oracle.

???

Umm...

You do realize that Oracle is an RDBMS and Red Hat Linux is an O/S... don't you?

And Oracle is installed most often on a Windows server.

IOW. Your post sounded completely clueless.

[Lees Swrd]

Oracle Enterprise Linux is an enterprise-class Linux distribution supported by Oracle. According to the project’s web site, “Oracle starts with Red Hat Linux, removes Red Hat trademarks, and then adds Linux bug fixes.” Oracle Enterprise Linux is, and intends to remain, fully compatible with Red Hat Enterprise Linux.