There’s Harmony in the Java world

By now, everybody who has an interest in Java is aware of this:

We propose that we create a new Apache project, Harmony, that will
achieve the following goals :

1) create a Compatible, independent implementation of J2SE 5
   under the Apache License v2

2) create a community-developed modular runtime (VM and class library)
   architecture to allow independent implementations to share runtime
   components, and allow independent innovation in runtime components

What I haven’t seen appearing yet are speculations, informed or otherwise, regarding the motives that got project Harmony started.

With all the J2SE implementations that exist, is there a need for yet another one? I think the answer is yes.

Fact is, Apache has an incredible amount of Java projects. Being at the mercy of one (Sun) or more (IBM, BEA, …) vendors is a big risk. And now, with J2SE 5, it is finally legal to create a compatible, Open Source implementation.

Of course, reaching the goal of a complete J2SE implementation starting from a clean slate is a daunting task. I hope it’s not so big that by the time it’s finished the target has shifted too much (i.e. Java 6, Java 7, …).