JavaSoft faces competition from freeware

April 10, 1998 — Sun’s JavaSoft division is facing competition from a number of new freeware Java virtual machines (JVMs), which could weaken Sun’s control of the Java language — especially if commercial software companies were to start using them.

The Hungry Programmers is a San Francisco-based group of independent hackers who have developed Japhar, a clean-room implementation of the Java virtual machine.

Japhar is Java Developers Kit 1.1.5-compatible and includes support for the Java Native Interface (JNI). However, developers also will need access to a comprehensive set of Java class libraries from a special Web site (see Resources).

Meanwhile, Kaffe (Berkeley, CA) also has produced a clean-room version of the Java virtual machine.

Although there was much hoopla about Hewlett-Packard creating its own version of the JVM, such software is actually quite common among commercial companies such as Tower Technology, NewMonics, and Instantiations, which all have their own versions of the JVM. (See Resources for links to the Web sites for these companies.)

Anyone can produce their own version of a JVM by simply adhering to the license. Because of this, JVMs will be compatible and therefore JavaSoft officials view competitive JVMs as unnecessary.

The Sun Java virtual machine is free now, said Jim Mitchell, JavaSoft’s vice president of architecture and technology, in a recent interview with InfoWorld. But the company is beginning to sell its JVM as part of its Java JumpStart product bundle.

Meanwhile the Hungry Programmers’s Japhar JVM is currently distributed under the GNU Public License (GPL).

“The charter of the Hungry Programmers is to compete with the commercial companies with free products,” said Chris Toshok, lead developer of the Japhar. “However, we need to look at adjusting the license to achieve this.”

Currently, commercial ISVs are not at liberty to use code protected by the GPL unless they are willing to forfeit their own code. There is, however, a separate limited GPL that enables the free use of freeware without having to redistribute the source code.

Meanwhile, analysts warn that freeware should be taken seriously by the commercial ISV.

“I have just been talking to the ISP community and they use a lot of freeware,” said John Rymer, director and senior consultant at Upstream Consulting, in Emeryville, CA.