Since the announcement of JavaFX at JavaONE 2007 I wondered if Sun will at some point decide to open source the JavaFX technology. In the past years Sun has turned into one of the strongest supporters of the open source software development model. Probably one of the best decisions Sun’s management ever made, and the fact that the company focuses more and more on software vs. hardware will add more momentum to that move.
Just before Christmas Jeet Kaul, VP of the Client Software Group at Sun published an interesting post in his blog, talking about the road ahead for JavaFX and a possible decision to open source JavaFX.
There are some dependencies on licensed code that cannot be open sourced. We are working towards decoupling the dependencies so that the non-proprietary portions can be open sourced. Currently the JavaFX compiler, Netbeans JavaFX plugin and Eclipse JavaFX plugin are already being developed in the open source. The scene graph is out in the open. We will put the core runtime out in the open over time.
That sounds a lot like the situation of Adobe and the open sourcing of Flex, where some dependencies on proprietary code portions needed to be decoupled as well. A decision to open source JavaFX would certainly help boost adoption of the technology, although I personally wouldn’t be afraid of a vendor lock-in with JavaFX or Sun in general. Still, it’s good to see that people are discussing such a move in such an open way.
