似乎整个软件行业正在等待太阳公司决定是否开放源代码java技术。二月末,IBM公司负责新兴技术的副总裁史米斯在一封公开信中表示,IBM愿意与太阳合作,成立一个项目通过对java开发管理的开放源代码开发模式。在这之前,Eric S Raymond也发了一封公开信给麦克尼利,要求java是开放的。
IBM一直在呼吁几年前的java源代码的开放,它认为它已经成熟。史米斯说,IBM准备开源组织提供技术支持和源代码。Sun can provide the company's resources for open source organization, including the detailed specification, test report and source code of Java.Previously, IBM has invested a lot of resources in Java technology, and its Java based products also gained a high market share in the market.