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Oracle sues Google over use of Java in Android

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Re: Oracle sues Google over use of Java in Android

#201
post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can like lambdas without wanting to go fully functional... just like you can like objects without wanting to go fully object-oriented.

Those are called structs ;-)

Not everyone accepts that the object systems in Java and .NET are fully object-oriented.

Re: Oracle sues Google over use of Java in Android

#202
post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree that counter suing is one tactic. Another one is that after all the denunciations and sabre-rattling, Google hand over a wad of cash to licence the technology and Oracle score a slice of Android sales. Merely the threat of future lawsuits... justified or not, could harm Android adoption, so Google may settle (after posturing and sabre-rattling of course) on that basis alone

Android is free though isn't it? they can have 100% of Google's Android sales in that case :)

Handsets with Android are not free.

Re: Oracle sues Google over use of Java in Android

#203
post #184
post #119

My dream for wrestling my profession away from the lawyers and CEOs is the formation of a programmer's union. The union would mainly be concerned with issues like these patents. A strike would be called on any company that tried to use software patents. A strike would mean not only that the programmers of that company would stop working, but also all programmers nationwide would refuse to work on that company's produ…

> If such a union existed it would immediately stop the use of software patents. Or companies would just hire overseas programmers...

Global union, man.

Re: Oracle sues Google over use of Java in Android

#204
post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It looks like the patents that Oracle is claiming are being infringed upon focus on the actual JVM itself, not on the code run on it. Google making their own JVM is what's brought them into the crosshairs.

Which could be rather bad if you need a JVM tuned in a non-standard way. Anyway you look at it, Oracle has enabled a lot of FUD to be thrown at Java, and if your observation is correct, andyone who's working on any sort of non-Oracle derived JVM (and there are a bunch ) had just been handed a lot of legal uncertainty. Side note: I don't need hearing this shortly after learning about the RightHaven atrocity factory.

> andyone who's working on any sort of non-Oracle derived JVM

Except Dalvik is not derived from the JVM.

Sure they use the language, but what, are you going to tell me that I can't make a compiler that translates JVM bytecode to something else?

Should projects like http://ikvm.net be illegal?

Oracle is destroying the biggest advantage Java has.

Re: Oracle sues Google over use of Java in Android

#205
post #198
post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It sounds like the sort of stuff that Smalltalk implementations were doing before Java existed. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just-in-time_compilation#Histor... for more. (I wonder whether Sun's patents were filed for Self?)

sigh A patent isn't an idea. It's the specific method for implementing an idea. If there is a way to get the same end result using a completely different method, the patent doesn't apply.

How does that relate to my comment that the patent in question sounds like it could have come out of Sun's work on optimizing Smalltalk instead of their later Java implementation? (Note that even if Sun could have worked around their own patents, they would have had no reason to bother.)

Re: Oracle sues Google over use of Java in Android

#206
"A Google spokesman said the company hasn't yet been served with the lawsuit, and is therefore unable to comment.

An Oracle spokeswoman declined to comment."

With Oracle knowing obviously knowing this could damage their largest asset, it makes me wonder if they're still in talks. Someone who knows more law than I do could probably tell us. How hard is it do withdraw a suit once filed. How expensive is it to file a lawsuit your not certain you'll follow through on?

Re: Oracle sues Google over use of Java in Android

#207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you like lambdas, you'd probably like F# better: lighter syntax, types are inferred, and it looks like it's quite well supported by Microsoft. But of course, if you consider F#, you may want to use the more free and open Ocaml.

You can like lambdas without wanting to go fully functional... just like you can like objects without wanting to go fully object-oriented.

Well, I'm not sure. First, assignments are evil[1], which means you should avoid setters. Second, inheritance is evil, for similar reasons (thick interface). Third, every time I saw mixins or class polymorphism, lambdas or sum types, would have been simpler, respectively.

Once you like lambdas, functional programming becomes more attractive than a black hole.

[1]: http://www.loup-vaillant.fr/articles/assignment

Re: Oracle sues Google over use of Java in Android

#208
post #7

The biggest issue I see with Oracle's lawsuit is not with Android itself, but the future of Java as an open platform. The claims are pretty serious, and Oracle is going straight for the jugular. It'll be interesting to see how it shakes out, but I've got to hope that Google will come out of this in good shape for the sake of Java. It's unfortunate that Oracle is interpreting Google's implementation of Dalvik and a Ja…

> it raises some fairly serious questions around Java's future development as a platform vis a vis the uncertainty recently resolved between Microsoft and the Mono project

Microsoft's "Community Promise" does not cover the whole .NET stack - it covers only the ECMA standardized parts. It has "It's a trap" written all over it.

I would also think twice before relying on promises from a convicted monopoly abuser.

Re: Oracle sues Google over use of Java in Android

#209
post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks, it naively hadn't occurred to me that Android would be using a non-Sun JVM, and given what you've said it seems that would be a viable route for an IP lawsuit (though it still seems in pretty bad faith).

Dalvik would be better if Google had just licensed Oracle's Sun JVM or used the open source version. As an occasional Android developer I am constantly banging against the limitations and performance of Dalvik. It doesn't do memory management nearly as well as the JVM, and it handles dynamic dispatch and one-off closure hacks (local classes) slowly. It won't easily accept generated bytecodes. It has mysterious perfor…

another technical reason for going with a new VM: every process (e.g every app) runs its own VM for security purposes. dalvik claims to have a much lower memory footprint.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-36noTCaiA

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