Open source enterprise content management (ECM) provider Alfresco Software is now offering Alfresco JLAN (once known as the Alfresco Intelligent File System) under the GNU Public License (GPL),

This news follows Alfresco’s adoption of GPL licensing for the rest of its open source enterprise content management software earlier this year.

Alfresco describes Alfresco JLAN as a unique implementation of an embedded virtual file system that offers the only Java client and server implementation of Microsoft Window’s CIFS (Common Internet File System) protocol, allowing content, system administration information, and rows in a database to appear as a shared drive.

“The shared drive is the de-facto document management interface for the vast majority of computer users today,” says Alfresco.

Features and functionality included in Alfresco JLAN are:

• Only Pure Java client and server implementation — CIFS, NFS and FTP
• High Performance — Similar to the native file system
• Enterprise Authentication — NTLM, NTLMSSP, SPNEGO, Kerberos/AD
• Real-Time Access — No copy-to-local disk or conflict resolution issues
• Offline Access — Integration to Microsoft(R) briefcase

Among the customers of Alfresco JLAN customers are Sybase’s Avaki EII, Caringo, EMC Documentum and Symantec’s Veritas.

“Alfresco JLAN has allowed us to expand our OEM momentum with a simple interface and low cost open source solution, which can be embedded easily into various systems,” said John Newton, CTO, Alfresco Software.

“Today, more than 50 customers, including some of the largest software companies in the world, have already incorporated Alfresco JLAN into their products,” he added.

For those interested, Alfresco JLAN can be downloaded here.

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In November, Sun Microsystems moved to “open source” status for Java, after a decade of maintaining proprietary status for the portable programming language.

Specifically, Sun has placed Java into the public domain by putting it under GPL - an acronym for General Public License. What this means is that software programmers will have vastly increased freedom to develop programs based on Java and to develop modifications for the language itself.

It also puts Sun into the mainstream with other major platform developers such as Linux. While the company had put its Solaris operating system into open source status some time ago, Java is a highly distributed consumer platform and providing open source access to it gives the company a real boost in its standing among its peers. Perhaps more important, it will stimulate further development of consumer oriented Java-based programs. It is estimated that eight out of every ten cell phones have a Java application running on them.

A GPL use requires that any product developed under such licensure be returned to the “open source community” and remain, in effect accessible to all. Sun’s variation on this principle has an exception for applications built on the Java “Virtual Machine,” a platform that the company made available to software developers some time ago.

What this exception does is allow continued development of proprietary software written for Java, which keeps the language viable as a platform for revenue producing products. Prior to the switch to GPL status, Java program developers had to pay a licensing fee to Sun.

IBM has been after Sun to take Java to open source status for years. Their Works Projects has been a center for the development of open source products, primarily based on Linux. From their perspective, Sun’s decision to grant GPL status for Java is viewed as an opportunity to unite with Linux and provide a stronger platform to challenge Microsoft. The politics of software can be enormously complicated, especially when there’s an elephant like Microsoft in the house. But what Sun has accomplished with this move is provide an opportunity for programmers to zero in on Java products as potentially large revenue sources.

Unlike Linux, which was spun off of UNIX to provide an alternative to Windows, Java stands in a class of its own. While Linux has survived in the marketplace, it has never mounted a major challenge to Windows. Java’s unique qualities and the intellectual property that protects those qualities will now be an open book for programmers developing new applications.

It will also provide the opportunity to bundle Java products with Linux based software. Sun’s internal interest in this move is to stimulate more developers to use the language, in order to revive its own internal software business. Since taking a huge hit in their high-end server market, Sun has been struggling to find a new path and has increasingly looked to software as an opportunity.

Sun’s EVP for software summed up the value of the move for the company and its product. “People have been hesitant to distribute Java worldwide with Linux (distributions) because of (concerns over) license alignment,” Green said. “This is the last gate to ensure that Java will be distributed worldwide.”

My thesis advisor keeps reminding me to frame the question correctly, otherwise the experimental results will be meaningless.

After reading this article by Dana, I couldn’t agree more. Dana suggests that “Sun’s Java implementations and JBoss products” should be a true test of “open source innovation”.

1. Dana, Java is not “coming under the GPL next year”. Sun’s implementations of Java ME, SE and EE are “coming under the GPL”. Don’t forget that developers have to hand over joint copyrights to Sun for any contributions. Then, Sun can decide to re-license the larger piece of work (i.e. Sun implementations of SE, ME and EE) under any license they choose. And according to their own FAQ, Sun intends to sell commercial versions of their implementations. Heck, they’ll let you use Sun code plus contributions from the “community” and you can make your own modifications to the complete work without having to contribute them to the broader community. all for a fee. Sounds like a BSD-style license except that you have to pay Sun to get those rights.

2. The JBoss application server is a decent product (but there are definitely some shortcomings also). However, this has absolutely nothing to do with open source. JBoss was not developed by, is not being developed by, and will not be developed by “the open source community”. JBoss products have always been developed by folks who are, or who have become, JBoss employees. The JBoss development effort is commercial development done out in the open.

3. There is no community/3rd party vendor incentive for driving innovation when one vendor controls an open source project. In such a situation, that vendor stands to receive the majority of the benefit from “community/3rd party vendor” effort in the project. This usually means that there is little 3rd party vendor work in such a project. Any innovation that occurs in the project is indicative of the single vendor’s abilities, and says nothing about open source innovation. When an open source community is led by several (often competing) companies or a non-profit (usually funded by competing commercial entities), then there is a reason for these vendors to get involved and innovate in the community. Everyone contributes, innovates, and stands to benefit. I’ve written about this before.

So, Dana, I disagree with your view that Java is the true test of open source innovation. You can’t test for “open source innovation” using ‘open source’ projects that are lacking a key, if not the most important, aspect of open source: COMMUNITY.

Eclipse is a test of open source innovation. Linux is a test of open source innovation (we’re past the “just re-create what’s been done” stage wouldn’t you say?) Firefox is a test of open source innovation. Apache projects in general are a test of open source innovation. And if you ask me, the test results look pretty good

There’s a lot of confusion about what Sun actually intends to do when they use the term “open source java”.

We shouldn’t confuse the Java SE standard with the Java SE reference implementation.

Check out Sun’s (new) Open Source Java page.

If you look at the “OpenJDK” paragraph in the communities section, you’ll find that Sun is referring to open sourcing Sun’s implementation of Java SE.

It doesn’t mention anything about governance of the Java standard, which is much more important to open source Java if you ask me.

Now if you look at the “OpenJavaEE” paragraph, you’ll notice that they somehow tie GlassFish (Sun’s JEE implementation) to the governance of JEE:

“The community governs the development of specifications, technologies, and products that work together to provide enterprise-level solutions under the Java EE paradigm.”

Now call me crazy, but (1) doesn’t the JCP govern JEE and (2) wouldn’t a true open community like the Apache Geronimo community be a better place for the implementation and governance of JEE?

Why is open source JEE so closely tied to Sun controlled efforts? I thought this was a community story.

Based on what Sun appears to be trying to pull with JEE, I have fairly large reservations about what open source Java SE (implementation and governance) will really look like in the end.