<story><title>No Java 7, The End Game</title><url>http://www.jroller.com/scolebourne/entry/no_java_7_the_end</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>mcantelon</author><text>Seeing as Google has its own Java-like VM, what would stop Google from creating its own spec and Apache, and the rest of the Java community, following this spec? Can Oracle&apos;s patent arsenal stop the Java community from forking?</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>zmmmmm</author><text>Yes.  I can&apos;t help thinking that if I was Google, I would be working on an alternative language that compiles directly to Dalvik bytecode as fast as I could.  Heck, I&apos;d probably just be grabbing something like Go and throwing 10 pHDs at it.&lt;p&gt;This would help them in many many ways.   Firstly it would demonstrate to the courts that Dalvik is not specifically a Java VM.  This clears them of several legal challenges (still leaving some).&lt;p&gt;Secondly and more importantly, it would up the stakes with Oracle tremendously.   Having Google actually abandon Java on Android due to legal concerns would be a huge blow to Java.   Especially if Google did so in a way that enabled existing Java applications to be ported easily (by adopting the Apache Harmony libraries, utilizing their existing dexer to enable people to run their existing Java code while picking up Google&apos;s replacement language for new code).   They&apos;d have to work around any patent violations in the VM which might have some performance impact but I&apos;d still assume it is possible.&lt;p&gt;It would basically change the game to a lose-lose proposition for Oracle - win the court case, get some money, but lose Java.  Lose the court case, effectively still lose control of Java.</text></comment>
<story><title>No Java 7, The End Game</title><url>http://www.jroller.com/scolebourne/entry/no_java_7_the_end</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>mcantelon</author><text>Seeing as Google has its own Java-like VM, what would stop Google from creating its own spec and Apache, and the rest of the Java community, following this spec? Can Oracle&apos;s patent arsenal stop the Java community from forking?</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>jsankey</author><text>Google&apos;s Dalvik VM is specifically designed for mobiles. Presumably a lot of the engineering trade-offs made in light of that would make Dalvik relatively weak on servers.  So I&apos;m not sure Dalvik would be a great starting point for Google to fork Java.&lt;p&gt;Having said that, Google are heavily reliant on the Java platform, so they must have at least considered how they can protect the platform if necessary.  Could they fork OpenJDK?  Or at least support a fork?  They certainly have the resources to do it, and Oracle&apos;s early moves don&apos;t bode well for a cooperative solution, so I wouldn&apos;t be surprised.  Perhaps they will use the current litigation as a test re: the possible patent issues, although by the time that is resolved it may be too late to make a move...</text></comment>