FreeBSD Foundation Announces Java License for FreeBSD

Great news comes from the FreeBSD Foundation! For years now Sun has made the "write once, run anywhere" promise with Java but that was only true for platforms which had a complete Java Runtime. Now the JRE is officially coming to FreeBSD after license negotiations with Sun. With the recent release of the powerful Java 2 Enterprise Edition, developers have been flocking to build Web Services applications which run on the powerful and compatible Application Servers made by many powerful vendors such as BEA, Sun, IBM and many others. The hope here is that OpenBSD and NetBSD will also benefit from these negotiations and lead to rich Java capabilities on all BSD distributions. In a world where it is increasing becoming Java or .NET, it is great to see Java come to FreeBSD.

To: announce@FreeBSD.ORG
From: The FreeBSD Foundation 
Subject: FreeBSD Foundation Announces Java License for FreeBSD

The FreeBSD Foundation is pleased to announce that it has secured a
license from Sun Microsystems to distribute a native FreeBSD version of
both the Java Development Kit (JDK) and the Java Runtime Environment (JRE).
Thanks to the great efforts of the FreeBSD Java team, these should be 
available for inclusion with the upcoming release of FreeBSD 4.5 in 
January, 2002.

The general availability of a distributable version of Java will 
benefit end users, commercial users, and developers who use FreeBSD.  
Java continues to grow in popularity and has become heavily used in
server side web applications, one of FreeBSD's core areas of strength.  
With an officially licensed binary Java distribution, FreeBSD becomes 
an ideal platform for execution, development, and deployment of Java 
based solutions.

This agreement would not have been possible without the efforts of Nate
Williams.  Nate not only started the FreeBSD Java porting effort, but
also brought Sun Microsystems and the Foundation together to negotiate a
license.

The FreeBSD Foundation, a 501(c)3 non-profit Colorado corporation, is
dedicated to supporting the FreeBSD Project.  In addition to sponsoring
the development and promotion of FreeBSD, as a recognized legal entity,
the Foundation can enter into legal contracts and hold intellectual
property in trust for the Project.  The Foundation hopes that today's
license agreement announcement is only the first of many occasions where
the Foundation's legal status allows FreeBSD to grow in ways that would
not otherwise be possible.

The FreeBSD Foundation relies solely on contributions from individuals
and businesses to fund its activities.  In negotiating the JDK/JRE
license, where both parties were in almost immediate agreement to
the license terms, the Foundation still spent in excess of $3000 on
legal fees.  Highly qualified and experienced legal counsel is the
expensive yet necessary cost of protecting the best interests of
the FreeBSD Project.  This particular activity was funded solely
by contributions from the FreeBSD Foundation's board of directors.
The Foundation will only be able to continue its work with further
contributions from the general public.  Donations to the Foundation
are usually considered tax-deductible for those paying United States
Federal income tax.  Any donations postmarked by December 31st.
are applicable for the 2001 tax year.  Information on how to donate
to the Foundation can be found at:

http://www.freebsdfoundation.org

The Board of Directors
The FreeBSD Foundation

NOTE: Sun, Sun Microsystems, Java, JDK, and JRE are trademarks or
      registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United
      States and other countries. 

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Comments? Contact us at freebsd-java@greasydaemon.com.