Apache to Sun: Open up

Geir Magnusson of the Apache Software Foundation has issued an open letter to Jonathan Schwartz, CEO of Sun Microsystems, asking Sun to provide an “acceptable license” for the test kit for Java SE. He writes:

Since August 2006, the ASF has been attempting to secure an acceptable license from Sun for the test kit for Java SE. This test kit, called the “Java Compatibility Kit” or “JCK”, is needed by the Apache Harmony project to demonstrate its compatibility with the Java SE specification, as required by Sun’s specification license. The JCK license Sun is offering imposes IP rights restrictions through limits on the “field of use” available to users of our software.

These restrictions are totally unacceptable to us. As I explain below, these restrictions are contrary to the terms of the Java Specification Participation Agreement (JSPA) – the governing rules of the JCP – to which Sun is contractually bound to comply as a signatory….Sun’s JCK license protects portions of Sun’s commercial Java business at the expense of ASF’s open software. It prevents our users from using Apache software in certain fields of use. Such implicit or explicit threats of IP-based aggression give one actor overwhelming commercial advantages over the other participants in the ecosystem. In an open ecosystem, it must be the case that the necessary IP to implement a specification can be secured independently from the specific commercial interests of any one actor in the ecosystem, which is the basis of our objection to your offered terms.

In short, “what you are doing is fair play in the commercial world, but not in the open source world in which you have chosen to operate.”

This is one of those frustrating yet fruitful parts of open source. You really must compete differently. You compete on the basis of openness (which can be a potent weapon), not closing things off. Once you successfully flick the switch in your brain, it’s amazing at how much competitive opportunity this “flick” provides. But it’s difficult to get to that point without “burning the boats,” to quote the conquistador.

I think Sun means well here and generally does well. I suspect Jonathan will respond, and the response will be as open as Sun has been of late. No one should underestimate just how hard it is for any company – including one committed to open source like Sun is – to consistently think “in the open.” Let’s cut them a little slack.

But not too much.