Re: Setup a free java development environment

[Dalibor Topic <robilad@kaffe.org>]

Michael Koch <konqueror <at> gmx.de> writes:

> BTW: Free Java does not exist in reality and I would not recommend to
> name anthing officially with Java in its name. Java is a registered
> tradmark by SUN. The Fedora Java effort currently thinks about a name too...
> 
> I would call it "Classpath community" but this is only my personal
> preference and I'm prejudiced because I'm part of GNU classpath project.

Yep. It is in my opinion simply rude to try to rub off Sun's trade marks, beside
being an unnecessary legal risk. Just like I think Sun's pretty stupid when they
desperately try to market their proprietary software as 'open source', I think
it's equally stupid to try to pass free software off as non-free. Remember, like
GNU is *not* Unix(TM), GNU Classpath/Kaffe/Gcj are *not* Java(TM).

If anything, they are better, in my biased opinion, so there is no need to
associate them with the negative, and by now pretty meaningless, legally dubious
J-brand. I personally prefer to use the terms 'Classpath community' or 'free
runtimes' to refer to the positive future of the platform :) 

These terms don't come with trade mark use restrictions, and moreover are not
generally associated with all the negative connotations the term 'Java(TM)' has
to a lot of people in the free software community.[1]

Recently I've talked to a few people trying to run some 'how Sun could try to
excert legal pressure if they wanted to' scenarios past me in private, and most
of them involved Sun using trade marks to that end. So I am no fan of giving Sun
a huge bat to smack one with, even though I believe them to be benevolent in
general.

cheers,
dalibor topic

[1] Non-free, slow, limited, resource-intensive, dubious licensing ...