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January 30, 2004 | Comments: (0)

As the Sun turns...

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The soap opera over whether or not Sun Microsystems will join the Eclipse consortium continues in earnest today.

Sun has sent out a quite-long, open letter to Eclipse membership stating the company's concerns. While congratulating the IBM-led Eclipse organization on plans to transition to independence, Sun nonetheless says that 70 percent to 80 percent of Eclipse staffers have been IBMers.

Sun also says it cannot join Eclipse if getting rid of its own NetBeans open source Java initiative is a condition of participation.

"Any entry criteria requiring that Sun abandon the NetBeans open source platform directly conflicts with the concept of choice and diversity, the very bases that gave Eclipse its beginning. If this condition were to change, we would be happy to reconsider," Sun said in its letter.

"We hope in the near future to find a solution that benefits both the Eclipse and NetBeans communities -- in very visible, open ways -- where Sun can be an open contributor to Eclipse, and Eclipse can do the same for the NetBeans platform," Sun said in its letter.

Sun advises Eclipse to be a unifying force for Java technology. The company also says moving to one common source base for tools is a non-starter when considering the players involved.

"We need to work together to make the Java platform a better, broader base for tools. That is the real issue. We trust Eclipse will help, not hinder, the effort," Sun concludes.

The situation between Sun and Eclipse (or IBM, if you prefer) has gone back and forth. But developers are looking for solutions for Java, not vendor bickering. Sun holding out an olive branch of cooperation is admirable.

But as far as whether Sun joins Eclipse, can Sun either join or not, and let the matter rest?

Posted by Paul Krill on January 30, 2004 10:45 AM

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