Jonathan Schwartz: Java Jedi?

Much has been made of last week's group of blogs reacting to the onstage JavaONE open source tease, including my own blog (which I won't bother hrefing, since most of you reading this also read that one.

Boy, I was miffed when I wrote that blog! My pal and former Sun colleague, Duncan Davidson did a better job of expressing our joint frustration in his comments on Simon Phipps' "ouch" posting...as people who worked at Sun and long believed that Open Source Java was important, URGENT even.

There's a new crop of people working to free Java. Some of them are working very hard (it's not easy work, I can assure you). Jonathan Schwartz is apparently one of them. As I was leaving Sun, Jonathan assured me that Open Source was a huge component of his strategy for transformation of the company and I believed he was sincere.

But Sun is incredibly bound in internal politics, and even a CEO can't just "make it so" without some jockeying...because the "antibodies" are always there to guard the status quo. JavaLand (as we used to call the group who work on Java at Sun) is almost a law unto itself. Part of the art of running a large group inside of Sun is effectively pushing your group's agenda in Senior Staff in the face of fairly ruthless competition for resources and "thought leadership". Difficult as it may be to believe, not even the CEO can simply tell a Divisional VP what to do, because doing so is the same as negating that person's authority and effectively firing them. Dealing effectively with the VPs at Sun is more like Aikido.

At Sun internal competition is actually a valued cultural norm...internally the company is run sort of like a free market economy. Its a tough job riding herd on so many relentless internal competitors (as Pat Sueltz found out). It is essential to finesse those Divisional VPs. Loiacono (who is a really nice man) was not very effective in this role IMHO. Back in the Day...Ed Zander acting as COO (and de facto VP of Software, no matter who actually sat in the chair) was like some Jedi Master at this practice (Yoda maybe?) and was only rarely trumped by direct appeals to Scott (because next to nobody ever got around Ed). This is one reason that gaining CEO status earlier this year was a big deal for Jonathan. It closes off that route of appeal to Scott and sets him up as the new Jedi Master of Sun.

When I was hired at Sun, it was because Alan Baratz had made a public promise that Java source would be released (under SCSL) to build a source code community and they needed a Community Manager. It was a crummy job. Next to none of the folks in JavaLand wanted Java source to be released in this way, but a public statement had been made. They did everything they could to subvert this required action, ensuring it would be a wasted effort. Barratz was on his way out the door anyway...and Zander wasn't in favor of opening the source.

In my opinion the JavaLand folks were incredibly arrogant about the supremacy of their vision for Java. They didn't want any help, even on SCSL terms. The Open Source movement was treated with suspicion at best. People with an Open Source vision for Java were (and in some cases still are) treated as idiots. With all this prejudice working against it, you might be surprised that even SCSL Java happened at all (much less FOSS Java). "Public announcements must be honored" is another deep cultural value at Sun. Its the whole reason that three years later getting Jason Hunter onstage at JavaONE in 2002 was such a big deal. It meant that JCP rules really were going to change...and it might mean that last week's tease really was a big deal.

Consider Jonathan as the next Jedi Master of Sun. Hey, he's got the ponytail and the hip attitude. I think its probable that Jonathan's part in the now famous Open Source Java tease at JavaONE was another example of Senior Staff politics acting out in public. Its not an elegant way to execute strategy, but a Jedi has to honor local customs.

"Rich, are we going to Open Source Java?"...it demands an answer (as most of the blogs on the topic have mentioned). In front of a reported 20,000 people. So now Rich is on the hook. My last blog on this topic expressed skepticism. I still think the antibodies must be furiously massing to undermine a truly FOSS Java from Sun..., but if they actually manage to release FOSS Java I'll be the first one to cheer...I just hope its not too late. I would really love to see Jonathan and the people trying to change Sun succeed.

Comments

[void_free]

Whoa mama! That's as bad as it can get! I sure hope Java comes out in the open source space and grows leaps and bounds. Sun has been doing a good job till now, but it faces stiff competition from new entrants c# and others.

[Don Marti]

There is always the "If a division doesn't get with the open source program, sell them to Lenovo" plan. Hope IBM will freely license the business method patent on that one.

[hmm]

And James Gosling is the most public of these antibodies?

[james governor]

its Rich Green that is going to have to play bad cop. its his watch. he is the man that has to change the culture and take on JavaLand. it should be very interesting. nice to see you posting some more about Sun and the OSS issue. initial meetings with Green - he knows what needs to be done, and soon.

[Danese Cooper]

Don...Gosling is really interesting on the subject of FOSS Java. At various times he's said to me that he would like to see it happen (and has even pushed for it inside Sun) but publicly he's all partyline...meaning he's an officier of the company and won't openly challenge Sun. He's been spectacularly mis-quoted on the subject a number of times as well which has led to a public perception pretty far from the conversations I've had with him.

James...I'm hoping you're right about Rich but I'm wary. Rich had been at Sun a long time before he left for Cassatt, and so was involved in many conversations about open source in general and Java in particular. I saw him most often skinning the proverbial cat in a way that parsed to "FOSS Java isn't advisable because...". In the article I cited (from ITWorldCanada) I hear echos of Rich twisting on the hook on which Jonathan has put him. Maybe I'm extra sensitive. I was told smugly before JavaONE by a former Sun colleague that a recent Java userland survey confirmed (to the Sun folks who conducted it) that FOSS Java "just wasn't necessary". Look at first answer in the article. Rich says, "I think the only caveats would be that if our findings, based on the feedback from the community, were overwhelmingly against it, [then] we would certainly reconsider." If what I was told is true...he knows he already has that evidence in his back pocket. Certainly I agree that Rich should know what needs to be done (which was the topic of my earlier angry blog...I still say that to publicly suggest that he didn't know was disingenuous). Remember, he ran JavaLand in his previous Sun job. Simon Phipps keeps telling me that next to no one in JavaLand actually knows what to do...that none of JavaLand knows because they've been steadfastly ignoring all the instructions they've been offered over the years. They are not difficult instructions. I'd be happy to draw a picture for them if it would help :-).

[Jeff Kaplan]

As a total Sun outsider, I'm wondering what do the folks in Javaland think about the need (and path) for Sun's transformation as a company? Put another way, do they see that open technologies, including open source, are becoming prime consideration in enterprise and government transformation?

Oh, and all CEOs and CIOs seem to need those Jedi skills. Easy is not the work.

Jeff Kaplan
Founder & Director
Open ePolicy Group

[Andy]

I think open source Java WILL happen. It is inevitable. However, it is not imminent. Meaning I think open source Java happens in 2012. And open governance of Java (meaning a way that the community can do more than implement what Sun and chosen vendors think should go in Java) will happen in 2017. That is approximately when no one will care. Hey...smalltalk is open source now.

[Dalibor Topic]

If Sun's rule was that public announcements must be honoured, then they would have released Java3D, JAI, etc. under an open source license, rather than just talking emphatically about it in their PR releases.

I recall Schwartz personally "open-sourcing" Java3D on stage at JavaOne a year or two ago for LookingGlass. What actually got released under an open-source-like license (Sun's crazy anti-nuclear BSD+) was a bunch of programming examples for it. Yay. ;)

The ongoing Debian/Fedora/JPackage vs. DLJ fiasco, for example, is pretty astonishing to me. Sun's lawyers are apparently either unable or unwilling to write simple, understandable, reasonable terms to use and redistribute its flagship proprietary software for, I think, about 10 years now. That's ... just ... amazing.

[Telly Savalud]

wanna know what happens when you rush to FOSS? http://news.zdnet.com/2100-3513_22-6049960.html

[John Jimmy Dondapati]

Hai Danese,

I am John ( GOOGLE SOC 2005 winner). Met you in Linux Asia Conference Delhi 2006 in Feb.. I dont know if you remember me...But I do.

How are you? Are you visiting India any soon? would love to see you here again...

You were the first person to tell me about open source in Java Conference @ Hyderabad 2004, since then I am involved in this beautiful world.. Thanks for introducing me to this great community..

I am now mentoring a few guys in some projects(Open source ofcourse)... With the motivation that you gave when we talked in Delhi..

I came across your blog while surfing the net.. And Just thought I would thank you... Dont know your email address, so posting it here..

Please reply if you are free,
Cheers,
John

[Kyle Gonzalez]

Heya Danese,

Don't know whether you remember me, we met briefly in malaga airport some years ago, i had a bright blonde mohawk....

How have you been?

Kyle

[someone who knows...]

Danese - unfortunately you are very (very) wrong in this instance. Your memories of how Sun worked are really off base relative to what is actually happening today (and yes, I know - because I'm apart of it)...

Just wait and see - maybe you will even see something "soon..."

;)

A blast from the past...

[Alex Mayorga Adame]

So where'd the cheering post?

[acknowledge]

Prayer in public schools are wrong, not wrong

[doctor]

More or less nothing seems important. So it goes. Oh well. It's not important. That's how it is.