Jawed’s Blog

Today, the SUN Microsystems, Inc has released the first Java code under version 2 of the General Public License (GPLv2), which governs Linux and other open source products. According to Sun, this move will promote Java and make it easier to bundle with Linux.

Sun is now the biggest contributor to the open-source community. Already Sun has released open-source implementations of its Solaris Operating System, NetBeans, Project Looking Glass, Project JXTA, Jini, OpenOffice, OpenSPARC, and Java EE technologies and is continuing on its path to open all of its middleware.

Commenting on the development, Rich Green, Executive Vice President of Software, Sun, said, this is a milestone for the whole industry, and that not only are they making an influential and widely-used software platform for the Web available under open source, but that they are paving the way for a paradigm shift in how software is enhanced and developed.

By open sourcing its Java implementations, Sun will open new market opportunities, fuel innovation, and drive broader adoption of this Web 2.0 platform while minimizing fragmentation in the mobile community by delivering a consistent application platform across devices.

While additions to software available under GPL have to also use the license, Sun is making an exception in the case of Java Standard Edition (Java SE). Meaning, programmers creating applications using Java SE will not be required to use the GPL license, and can instead opt for any other license for their applications. Also, Sun will continue to offer commercial licenses that give other software vendors legal indemnification and official standards certification.

All in all, Sun’s move comes as a pleasant surprise, considering the company has continually resisted calls to open source Java, citing fears that such an action would cause incompatibilities among “forked” versions of the code.

Read full story: Open Source Java

Jnode is an open source Java operating system. It was started when JDK 1.0.2 released, Ewout Prangsma (the founder of JNode) dreamed of building a Java Virtual Machine in Java. It should be a system that was not only a VM, but a complete runtime environment that does not need any other form of operating system.

Ewout made various attempts to develop this OS. He first developed a JBS; the Java Bootable System. It became a somewhat functional system, but had far too much native code, in C and assembler, in it. So he started working on a new JBS system, called JBS2 and finally JNode. which doesn’t have C code, but has only a little bit of assembly code. In may on 2003 Ewout came public with JNode and development proceeded ever faster from that point on.

Hardware Requirements:

To be able to run JNode, you’re hardware should be at least equal to or better then:

• Pentium class CPU with Page Size Extensions (PSE) feature
• 256Mb RAM

more on hardware requirements

Performance:

Performance of an OS is critical. That’s why many have suggested that an OS cannot be written in Java. JNode will not be the fastest OS around for quite some time, but it is and will be a proof that it can be done in Java. To make JNode as fast as possible, we’ll concentrate on doing things as smart as possible, but still to do it in Java.

more on performance

Joomla is one of the best Content Management System (CMS) available. It is an open source software and available for free. Joomla is the software result of a serious disagreement between the Mambo Foundation founded in August 2005, and its development team. Joomla! is the continued development of the successful Mambo system.

I am right now exploring it and trying to master its administration section (the back end) to control the website (front end). I like the organization of the administration section, there is hundreds of option available and all are well organized. It will look confusing at the first glance but when you look it for couple of times you will start understanding how things will work for you. I am at the moment exploaring it more will come on this blog about Joomla.

One thing I like most about Joomla is its name and logo. Joomla as it is said a Swahili word but I doubt that this word is derived from Sindhi word Joomlo, which means “every body”, and in late 1800 and early 1900 people from sub-continent migrated to East Africa, where Swahili is abundantly spoken. Any ways who cares where is the name came from, the name is superb and the logo is perfect.