In 'Harmony' with Java

NEW DELHI: An enthusiastic group of developers from the Apache and Java communities has proposed to develop open source version of Sun's famous desktop software Java. Said an online report.

A formal proposal to this effect was submitted to the Apache Foundation Project. According to a senior member of the Sun's development team, the project has Sun's approval and it may also participate in its development.

Coined as 'Project Harmony' the developers feel that there is a need for open source version of Java. The developers intend creating a complete set of Java libraries, a Java Virtual Machine (JVM) implementation, a test suite for interoperability testing etc.

This is not the first time that developers are working on an open source implementation of Java, many such attempts have been made in the past, but the fact that project Harmony comes from Apache Foundation and has the endorsement of Sun itself, is what makes it get noticed. Harmony members also expect to benefit, as Apache is a non-profit member of Java Community Process (JCP).

Faced by intellectual property rights, licensing issues and other such challenges the project's fate will be ascertained once it is approved by Apache's project management committee that can either promote it to a full project, reclassify it as a sub-project or scrap it.