Sun today announced that it is releasing the Java source code under GPL 2.
The JDK will be available for download from openjdk.dev.java.net, and (as of today) the HotSpot Virtual Machine and javac are available. The rest of the JDK will posted there in early 2007.
Sun had announced their decision to do earlier in year at JavaOne. This was the first JavaOne without Scott McNealy as the CEO, and methinks Sun finally realized what IBM did years ago about how to make money from software. You can't make money- at least big money- with software infrastructure products and tools.
Funny stuff to quote from faced with that earnest consultant pushing their humongous SOA/ESB/TLA stack: www.soafacts.com.
The one I like the best? "Guns don't kill people, the SOA WS-* stack kills people."