There has been a lot of community pressure (and also apparently from inside Sun) to Open Source Java. I’m still unsure if this is a good idea. I think Sun have done a great job so far of shepherding the language’s development, and the Java language and platform really has developed in leaps and bounds since the first 1.0.x versions.
Jonathan Schwartz as the new Sun Microsystems CEO may have other ideas. He has already been involved in the Open Sourcing of the company’s flagship operating system, Solaris, and so may be thinking along the same lines for Java.
With JavaOne approaching, people are speculating whether he may be preparing for a significant annoucement regarding Java’s future.