[ale] Fwd: Google and Oracle battle over the future of Android

[Ron Frazier (ALE)]

Hi all,

This is from the AJUG group.  I thought you guys might like to see it.  
I hope Oracle doesn't kill the market for Java since I'm about to get 
serious about learning it.

Apologies for the HTML nature of the message if that causes anyone 
problems.  That's the way it came into my mailbox.

Sincerely,

Ron


-------- Original Message --------
Subject: 	[ajug-members] Google and Oracle battle over the future of 
Android
Date: 	Wed, 18 Apr 2012 15:55:49 +0000
From: 	Gabsaga Tata <gabsaga.tata at simpaq.com>
Reply-To: 	ajug-members at ajug.org
To: 	ajug-members at ajug.org




http://money.cnn.com/2012/04/16/technology/google-oracle/index.htm


  Google and Oracle battle over the future of Android

By David Goldman <mailto:david.goldman at turner.com> @CNNMoneyTech 
<https://twitter.com/intent/user?screen_name=cnnmoneytech>April 17, 
2012: 3:49 PM ET
Google CEO Larry Page (left) and Oracle CEO Larry Ellison will testify 
against one another in the coming weeks.
Google CEO Larry Page (left) and Oracle CEO Larry Ellison will testify 
against one another in the coming weeks.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- A landmark court battle between Google and Oracle 
has begun -- and its result will shape the future of the Android 
ecosystem fueling most of the world's smartphones.
Silicon Valley's power players are always in the throes of nasty patent 
fights against each other 
<http://us.mg4.mail.yahoo.com/2011/08/18/technology/patent_bubble/index.htm>, 
but this one is especially potent. Oracle claims that Google's Android 
violates two patents plus several copyrights that Oracle holds on its 
Java software, a ubiquitous programming language powering everything 
from phones to websites.
Although both Java and Android are open-source platforms 
<http://us.mg4.mail.yahoo.com/2010/08/13/technology/oracle_android/index.htm> 
-- neither Google (GOOG 
<http://money.cnn.com/quote/quote.html?symb=GOOG&source=story_quote_link>, 
Fortune 500 
<http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2011/snapshots/11207.html?source=story_f500_link>) 
nor Oracle (ORCL 
<http://money.cnn.com/quote/quote.html?symb=ORCL&source=story_quote_link>, 
Fortune 500 
<http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2011/snapshots/3057.html?source=story_f500_link>) 
generally charge for their use -- their licensing terms are complex and 
precise. When Java creator Sun Microsystems (acquired by Oracle 
<http://us.mg4.mail.yahoo.com/2009/04/20/technology/Oracle_Sun/index.htm> in 
2010) set Java loose as open-source software, it left significant limits 
in place around the mobile version.
Companies building on top of Java's mobile platform typically pay to 
license it. Google used an elaborate workaround and essentially built 
its own version 
<http://www.betaversion.org/%7Estefano/linotype/news/110/> of a key 
system to avoid those licensing fees and restrictions.
Oracle cried foul and hauled Google off to court -- a move some expected 
from the moment it agreed to buy Sun.
"During the integration meetings between Sun and Oracle where we were 
being grilled about the patent situation between Sun and Google, we 
could see the Oracle lawyer's eyes sparkle," James Gosling, one of 
Java's original architects, wrote on his blog 
<http://nighthacks.com/roller/jag/entry/the_shit_finally_hits_the> the 
day the lawsuit was announced.
After 20 months of prep work and a blizzard of court documents, the 
trial between the two tech titans kicked off Monday in San Francisco.
Google insists its approach to building Android -- now the most popular 
smartphone platform in the world 
<http://us.mg4.mail.yahoo.com/2011/03/07/technology/android/index.htm> 
-- did not infringe either Java's rules or Oracle's patents, and it 
thinks Oracle's copyright claims are a sham. It called Oracle's 
arguments "a classic attempt to improperly assert copyright over an idea 
rather than expression."
But Oracle thinks it's got a smoking gun: An e-mail sent from Google 
engineer Tim Lindholm to Android chief Andy Rubin just days before 
Oracle filed its suit. Warned in advance by Oracle that it believed 
Google was infringing its patents, Google asked Lindholm to investigate 
its options.
He didn't like any of them.
"What we've actually been asked to do [by CEO Larry Page and co-founder 
Sergey Brin] is to investigate what technical alternatives exist to Java 
for Android and Chrome," Lindholm wrote. "We've been over a bunch of 
these, and think they all suck. We conclude that we need to negotiate a 
license for Java under the terms we need."
Google fought to keep that e-mail out of bounds 
<http://www.groklaw.net/articlebasic.php?story=20120206194613886>, but 
lost.
0:00/3:33Patent baron Myhrvold defends the system
If its lawsuit is successful, Oracle could force Google to pay it tens 
of millions of dollars in retroactive licensing fees and potentially 
hundreds of millions more in the future.
But this isn't simply a damages case. Oracle already makes plenty of 
money. Adding to its stash would be a nice perk, but it's not the main 
motive for its legal crusade.
Oracle is picking a fight with Google because it feels that Android is 
threatening the Java platform it got as part of its blockbuster $7.4 
billion Sun purchase. Android may be an off-shoot of Java, but its 
interface and functionality is unique. Code written for Java is not 
inherently compatible with Android -- and as Android grows, its version 
of Java threatens to become the dominant one.
Oracle doesn't want to kill Android, but it wants to force Google to 
play by its rules and make Android compatible with the rest of Java.
That would be extremely difficult for Google and the Android community. 
Each of the nearly 500,000 Android apps out there would have to be 
rewritten or tweaked.
But for Oracle, it would be a coup. Developers would be able to write 
apps around Java's programming interfaces that would also run seamlessly 
on Android devices.
"That would transcend whatever Google ultimately could pay Oracle," says 
Florian Mueller, an independent intellectual property analyst and 
consultant.
New technologies like HTML5 are already making Java less important on 
the Web. Oracle wants to make sure it doesn't lose the rapidly growing 
mobile market as well.
Whatever the outcome, don't expect a big decision any time soon.
With so much at stake, experts like Mueller think that this case will 
get stuck in the courts for years. The two sides -- neither known for 
backing away from a fight -- will most likely battle and appeal their 
way straight up to the Supreme Court. To top of page 
<http://us.mg4.mail.yahoo.com/neo/#TOP>
First Published: April 17, 2012: 2:36 PM ET

__._,_.___



-- 

(To whom it may concern.  My email address has changed.  Replying to former
messages prior to 03/31/12 with my personal address will go to the wrong
address.  Please send all personal correspondence to the new address.)

(PS - If you email me and don't get a quick response, you might want to
call on the phone.  I get about 300 emails per day from alternate energy
mailing lists and such.  I don't always see new messages very quickly.)

Ron Frazier

770-205-9422 (O)   Leave a message.
linuxdude AT techstarship.com

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