What is Oracle up to?
Although I use Java less frequently these days I still keep an eye on the community and the latest news regarding the language. I have also maintained an interest in the Oracle takeover of Sun Microsystems as they now also own MySQL which I use extensively.
My concern when I heard about the takeover was that Oracle would try and kill off MySQL as soon as possible and push its overpriced database onto the rest of us. While this hasn’t happened yet (and I believe the EU won’t allow it to) their behaviour towards Java and the open source projects they have inherited has left a bitter taste.
They have shown complete disregard for the Java community, are suing Google over its use of Java in Android and have angered Apache over TCKs all in a very short space of time. It is difficult to know what the long-term implications of their actions will be. Java is still the most widely used programming language but how long will that continue to be the case? With applications on mobile devices now going down the HTML5 and Adobe Air route you would think that Oracle would be delighted Google are using Java extensively in its Android OS and developer SDK.
What about some of the other projects Oracle now own? It looks as though The Document Foundation have forked Open Office as a separate project called Libre Office; in response Oracle Asks OpenOffice Community Members To Leave. Oracle dumps OpenSolaris. Oracle kills low-priced MySQL support. Not wanting to be reliant on Oracle in any shape or form at Crayon I have made the call that going forward we will use PostgreSQL exclusively from now on.
The outlook is rather bleak at the moment and I imagine Java developers are not too happy as things currently stand. To improve I suggest Oracle start listening to the community rather than taking it for granted.