During the first years of Java's phenomenal growth in popularity, I fully endorsed Sun's controlling authority over Java. Sure, Sun did it in part to make money on licensing (as if that's a bad thing), but the bottom line was that Sun had no choice but to assert its control.

Microsoft was itching to distort Java into a Windows-centric language, thereby undermining Sun's effort to promote Java as platform independent. Regardless of whether you think Sun was successful at making Java platform independent, the only way Sun had a prayer of achieving its goal was to prevent companies such as Microsoft from coopting Java.

Had Java already been widely adopted, Sun could have relied upon the fact that a platform-independent Java was the de facto standard. But it hadn't been widely adopted yet, so it didn't have the status of a de facto standard to protect it. Sun could have turned Java over to a standards group, but it could not do so without risking the possibility that Microsoft would influence that group in its favor. Considering Microsoft's bank account, that was a very realistic fear. Therefore, Sun's only viable option was to retain control over Java.

Things have changed, especially in the past year, and Sun is recognizing that it can now operate with less fear of Microsoft's influence over Java. As a result, Sun is now considering releasing Java under the Sun Industry Standards Source License (SISSL, pronounced "sizzle"). I'm not sure anyone fully understands the ramifications of the SISSL yet, but most people speculate that it will allow Sun to have final say over what constitutes the official version of Java.

Before I continue, let me make it clear that I believe Sun has the right to assert any level of control that it desires over Java. I also believe that Sun has the right to charge what the market will bear for Java licenses. And if Sun decides to continue that route, I would defend its right to do so.

But for strategic reasons, I strongly recommend otherwise. Instead, I would like to propose that Sun go for broke and license Java under the GNU General Public License.

What are the drawbacks of doing that for Sun? Depending on how SISSL works, the GPL might reduce or eliminate Sun's ability to make money selling Java licenses. But that conclusion is premature, no matter what SISSL amounts to. Troll Tech has created a triple license model for its programming toolkit Qt, including GPL as one alternative. Troll expects to continue to make money on its commercial licenses, regardless of its GPL alternative. Whether that is possible remains to be seen, but Sun could try a dual or triple license as well.

The

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