The “Break it Down” Blog

Is Java Becoming Irrelevant?

Update #1: To clear up any confusion, this article is focused on the business value of Java – it’s ability to control and generate revenue – not it’s value as a language or a technology. So the word “irrelevant” is applied to it’s business value, not if it’s a good technology or not. Sun Microsystems announced [...]

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Open Source DRM Solution, Marlin, Ready for Distribution

Marlin Developer Community claims to have ready the first Open Source DRM solution that is ready for rollout. The co-chairman of the Marlin Developer Community claims the open-source system is far less oppressive than those from rivals such as Apple and Microsoft, allowing users to share content between any Marlin-enabled device in the home rather than [...]

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Google Open Sources Android

It’s official, no more waiting, no more secret SDKs and top-secret government handshakes (ok, there never really was), but it’s still nice to hear that Google has officially Open Sourced Android. The preferred licensing for working with the Android platform is the Apache 2.0 license. For folks wanting to contribute directly to the platform you will [...]

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RedHat Pushes Up Sun Schedule, Java Fragmentation Begins

If you didn’t see it, RedHat announced earlier this week that their completely Open Source Java implementation (IcedTea) had finally passed the Java Test Compatability Kit (TCK). While most folks rejoiced, I think there were a fair number of us that sighed and thought: Goddamnit, here’s the beginning of the Java fragmentation. Or if that not, were [...]

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Sun to Begin Closing up MySQL Source Code

Uh-oh, Spaghettio’s! Looks like Sun is going to start closing up some of the open source portions of MySQL, namely the more advanced functionality and the backup solutions that are currently open sourced. Can you blame them? They paid a goddamn billion for MySQL, it’s not too surprising that they want to create some value-add [...]

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Microsoft Prepping to Buy Open Source Companies

Another big company that is learning how effective controlling open source can be when backed by a big commercial entity. I wonder mention the other glowing example of this, but feel free to guess For the folks that don’t understand the last comment or disagree with it, consider how open source typically works. Now [...]

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Microsoft’s Murder of OSS Begins

Looks like Microsoft’s murder of Open Source software has begun. Microsoft claims OSS violates 235 patents that Microsoft owns and it’s time for OSS developers to start paying for royalties. Besides one of the nastiest moves I’ve seen the company make, I’m very curious to see where this goes and what it does to the community. [...]

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