Project Proposal: JFX

[Richard Bair]

Hi,

>> I see it as being the same as with OpenJDK, in that:
>>  - The entire project will be buildable and runnable and usable on free 
> software
> 
> Good goal.
> 
> I have a question regarding applets and webstart. Is the plan to keep those bits 
> of code closed? If Oracle is releasing the code for JFX, it seems strange to 
> think that keeping the deployment code closed would offer Oracle a competitive 
> advantage.
> 
> This affects the deployment story of JFX.

Adam mentioned at JavaOne (I don't remember the context) that plugin will go open source too. I don't have a timeline for that, though it is really a question for JDK as opposed to JavaFX.

>>  - We are likely to have some encumbrances that require a closed module for 
> the time being for the binaries
>> that we ship of JavaFX, for the sake of performance and such (e.g. T2K for 
> fonts)
>>  - We will continue to work hard to replace those bits with free code
> 
> I hope that this is true for JFX, but OpenJDK has a mixed track record in this 
> respect. Replacements were provided, but I don't see a strong and consistent 
> push from Oracle to make the replacements as good as or better than the closed 
> versions.

Really we want to get away from the binary non-free parts, but in some cases it requires a very large investment to get the free versions up to the level of the non-free ones. Believe me, I'd drop ductus tomorrow if open Pisces was ready to replace it.

Cheers
Richard