Oracle's position is understandable. An Apache licensed Java runtime would possibly deny them of a substantial amount of profits it currently derives from J2ME licensing (it comes with every phone).
Oracle is not as prone to underpants gnome-like business plans as Sun was.
Too bad their product line is the antonym of cool.
Both positions are understandable. I'm just surprised that Oracle thought that they could play both sides like this. Pre-Sun they were all "yeah, what ASF said! Open licensing!". Post-Sun they take all of the historical Sun positions.
Again, it's understandable, but why are they so surprised that the ASF would respond like this? They are asking everyone to play a game using weighted dice. If you don't like Oracle's rules, you can go home. So how can they be surprised that ASF actually left?
No matter how awful a certain action gets by moral standards, everybody has understandable motives or urges ... rape, murder, backstabbing allies, you name it.
What isn't understandable is how companies can act hypocritical and get away with it, when your friends wouldn't.
That's a huge and hurtful double standard, especially since in the US companies have the same legal status as people, which is a huge advantage for them.
Would you trust to do business with, or be friends with, or just tolerate a person that acts like Oracle does?
> What isn't understandable is how companies can act hypocritical and get away with it, when your friends wouldn't.
Maybe because the company is not your friend? You are paying them money (in general) for services and you are getting services. If they do 'bad things' to you, you should consider switching to something more appropriate.
> especially since in the US companies have the same legal status as people, which is a huge advantage for them.
Corporations don't have same legal status as people (irrespective of the meme). They probably have more rights than you want them to have, but that doesn't make them a person
> If they do 'bad things' to you, you should consider switching to something more appropriate.
Well yeah, that's what I'm saying: there's some trust involved when dealing with companies, like will Oracle pull the plug on the platforms I'm building my business on? And it makes perfect sense to switch to something else in such a case.
So when Oracle acts a certain way, then backs away when in control forgetting their own complaints, how can you trust them after that?
I am not surprised Oracle thought they could. Oracle hasn't faced much opposition in its corporate history - their partners usually cave to whatever rules Oracle demands them to play with.
Oracle is not as prone to underpants gnome-like business plans as Sun was.
Too bad their product line is the antonym of cool.