Sun promises to open source Java

In a session at the JavaOne conference, it looks like the new Sun CEO has promised to Open Source Java.
“It's not a question of whether we'll open source Java, the question is how, ” Schwartz told delegates in his opening keynote at the tradeshow.
Interestingly, it hasn't created as much buzz as I'd have thought. The one thing I keep seeing that's incorrect is that the source to Java isn't currently available. It is and has been for a long time now, it just isn't available under an Open Source license. It will be interesting to see how this progresses. No timeline has been given and Sun certainly still seems a little apprehensive. There are a lot of other questions here also. What will the current Open Source implementations do? How much of this was was caused by C# uptake. How will Microsoft and IBM react? I'd guess the answer to most of those questions will depend on how the Open Sourcing objective plays out. No license has been officially announced, but one has to think that the CDDL is a likely candidate. No matter which license it is, it almost certainly won't be GPL-compatible. Also, Sun seem very concerned with forking. With the right to fork being one of the main Open Source ideals, they'll have to be careful how they go about trying to prevent forks. It will probably be a trademark enforcement, but if they try to work something into the actual license, it could get messy. On the Linux side, you have to wonder if this is going to get more distros to ship with Java preinstalled. I'd guess it once again will likely depend how Sun proceeds. So now I see why the issue may not be sparking the buzz I had expected. While it's great that Sun is continuing their commitment to Open Source, with so many aspects of this still up in the air, many people may just be taking a wait and see approach.
–jeremy
Java, Open Source, Sun, Linux, Microsoft, IBM