Basically, yes. Except that the Android system is not an OS. It is like a JVM (only not really) in that the OS running on the phone is actually Linux. Android does not use Java byte code. Java compiles to a "universal" byte code (instruction set) sequence. The JVM (Java Virtual Machine) interprets the byte code and executes it (ignoring the JIT compiler in most JVMs and the weird way that the "i" does it). JVM is "stack based", not "register based". Development for Android (which is not in the new "native" mode) is done in Java. This produces a normal Java .class output file. But this cannot be run directly on Android. There is another program which takes the Java byte code and converts it to Dalvik byte code. The Dalvik byte code is then loaded onto the Android system (usually a phone or a tablet at present) and is interpreted by the Dalvik interpreter on the phone/tablet.
So what Google has done is implement a system (Android) which has a subroutine library for use by the Dalvik virtual machine. And this subroutine library presents the same API as the Java API. Oracle says this is copying. But, to me, it would be like writing C++ code to create a C++ callable native library which has functions in it which implement the Java API. It's not Java. It's not copied source code. It is simply a library with functions in it that "echo" the functions in the Java system. That is, you could tell the C++ programmer to just read the Java library documentation (freely viewable via the Web on an Oracle maintained site) to use you library for C++. And Oracle says that is a violation of their copyright. Or, if you prefer, it would be like having a Java source code to C++ source code converter and an Java-compatible C++ library which was not licensed by Oracle. Again, this would, according to Oracle, violate their copyright to Java. I used to be indifferent towards Oracle. I now have yet another vendor that I despise. And we are in the process of eliminating them due to costs. Or course the fact that we are converting to MS-SQL Server is not exactly pleasing to me. Many in the FOSS arena are joking that Google's motto may be "Never do evil", but Oracle's is "Only do evil". But this was over Sun's OpenOffice which Oracle acquired with Sun and tried to make proprietary. OpenOffice has been forked, which is legal because it was GPL licensed by Sun, and most Linux users have converted to LibreOffice. -- John McKown Systems Engineer IV IT Administrative Services Group HealthMarkets(r) 9151 Boulevard 26 * N. Richland Hills * TX 76010 (817) 255-3225 phone * [email protected] * www.HealthMarkets.com Confidentiality Notice: This e-mail message may contain confidential or proprietary information. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply e-mail and destroy all copies of the original message. HealthMarkets(r) is the brand name for products underwritten and issued by the insurance subsidiaries of HealthMarkets, Inc. -The Chesapeake Life Insurance Company(r), Mid-West National Life Insurance Company of TennesseeSM and The MEGA Life and Health Insurance Company.SM > -----Original Message----- > From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List > [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Scott Ford > Sent: Thursday, May 03, 2012 11:59 AM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: Programming languages can't have copyright > protection, EU court rules > > Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't this about Google > imbedding java in their operating system on phones ? > > > Scott Ford > Senior Systems Engineer > www.identityforge.com > > > > On May 3, 2012, at 11:56 AM, Charles Mills <[email protected]> wrote: > > > I always bristle at the use of the word copyright as a verb > (all of the > > dictionaries do support the verb form) and try never to use > it that way > > myself, although it is easy to slip. > > > > Historically, perhaps you could "copyright something," as > John's Shakespeare > > perhaps did. > > > > Now, in the US and most nations (Berne convention) > copyright is a noun that > > inures automatically to authors upon fixing the work in a > tangible form. > > > > You can't copyright (verb) something. You either own the > copyright (noun) or > > you do not. The work is copyright (adjective) or it is not. > > > > You can (optionally) REGISTER the copyright with the > Library of Congress, > > but that's a different matter. > > > > Not to argue in the least with the substance of John's post ... > > > > Charles > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List > [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf > > Of John Gilmore > > Sent: Thursday, May 03, 2012 7:17 AM > > To: [email protected] > > Subject: Re: Programming languages can't have copyright > protection, EU court > > rules > > > > Charles Mills has made the operative distinction very > clear, but let me try > > another analogy. > > > > Think of yourself, briefly, as Shakespeare. > > > > You have written Sonnet XXX, > > > > When to the sessions of sweet silent thought I sigh the > lack of many a thing > > I sought. > > > > Then can I . . . > > . . . > > > > You, Shakespeare, may copyright this sonnet, its specific content. > > You may not copyright the fourteen-line sonnet form and its > rhyming scheme. > > > > Instances of a schema are copyrightable and protectable. > The schema itself > > is not. You may, that is, protect yourself against the > misappropriation of > > a sonnet that you write. You may not interdict the writing of > > [non-duplicative] sonnets by others. > > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, > > send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, > send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
