ASF Says "It's On"

As most of you know there's an ensuing battle between the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) and Oracle over Java and Apache Harmony. The roots of this conflict go all the way back to the time when Java was mainly driven by Sun Microsystems. However with ASF getting re-elected as a ratified JCP executive committee member, things are starting to take an interesting turn. A couple of days back ASF made a bold statement indicating that they are going to vote down the upcoming Java SE 7, which Oracle is pushing forward so hard. ASF is also urging other JCP members to back ASF on this. ASF has indicated that they are not afraid to terminate their ties with JCP if needed. This is pretty huge for a group that maintains an overwhelming number of world class Java projects including Tomcat, Maven, Geronimo, Ant and Derby. (I also happen to be a committer for a couple of Java projects at ASF)

There are currently so many news articles on the web covering this conflict end-to-end. I found the news report from The Register to be quite interesting and amusing at the same time. Here's a little excerpt:

Oracle was forced to eat crow and congratulate ASF for its near unanimous election back onto the JCP's SE and EE executive committee. It was an election that saw its own nominee - the little-known-outside-Oracle-circles Hologic - soundly rejected by JCP members.

Congratulating ASF, Oracle's spokesperson on Java SE, Henrik Ståhl, claimed Oracle still respected ASF and wanted to work with the group. "Our disagreement around TCK licensing does in no way lower our respect for and desire to continue to work with Apache," Ståhl said here.

On Tuesday, the ASF told Ståhl and Oracle just exactly where they could shove their "respect" with a statement saying it is walking out of the JCP unless Harmony gets a license.

Another interesting news report is available on IT World.