Stewart Zipper

Java and Linux should have been a natural: on the one hand we have a language that can run on any OS; on the other, an OS that can be custom tailored to a vast range of computing needs. Should have been, would have been, could have been. Maybe some day even will be. Today, however, the failure of Java to evoke more than relatively mild interest in the Linux community is the complex result of both philosophical and technical differences between the Java and Linux communities and technologies. The philosophical differences revolve around the terms open source and free. Java is neither, all claims to the contrary. Linux, at least in theory, is both. Further, there's a none-to-subtle bifurcation in the Linux community that Java advocates must understand. A significant segment of the Linux community stresses the word free. The other half lives by different economic rule... (more)