Every time I read about this awful case I am reminded how happy I am to have left Java behind. Yes as a developer this makes no difference to me in any practical way but it did put an awkward and uncomfortable cloud over the Java framework for me. Using a language owned by a company who does this kind of thing just didn't feel "right" and I disliked knowing I was [indirectly] supporting Oracle by using Java.
The most depressing part, to me, is if you asked anyone who "owned" Java back in the Sun days they would have told you nobody. Since it is OSS and aside from Microsoft's J++ lawsuit, Sun was pretty liberal about how people used Java (as they mostly profited from value adds, rather than the core language or libraries).
If Sun were still around, I suspect not only would they not be suing Google, but they would be actively involved in the Android development scene, producing tooling and other assists and offering enterprise support.
> If Sun were still around, I suspect not only would they not be suing Google, but they would be actively involved in the Android development scene
That's a big stretch. For one, Sun people weren't particularly happy that Google blatantly sidestepped them; all the time Sun was a going concern, backroom discussions with Google were ongoing and not particularly conciliatory. Sun didn't contribute to Dalvik and would likely never had (why, when they had OpenJDK?). The fact that they never granted use of the TCK is quite revealing in itself.
Couldn't agree more. Sun, for all their faults, knew what Java was about. For me Java died the day Oracle bought Sun. I am glad I have nothing to do with Oracle anymore.
With Microsoft making more and more of .NET open source I hope to see C# replace Java in the enterprise.
