A good week for open source

An increasing number of projects, ranging from the significant to the curious, are being opened to software and web developers worldwide. The trend is especially pronounced this week, with three different teams making important announcements about open sourcing their products. Let us welcome Java, Symbian, and reddit to the list of (fully) open source projects.

The Java programming language and application platform is, without any doubt, the most significant addition to free software in recent years. Its road to openness started at the JavaOne event in 2006, when the initial steps were undertaken by brand owner Sun Microsystems. A recent announcement by Simon Phipps, chief open source officer at Sun, made it clear that the company is determined to make Java 100% open, and that all of Java will be available under the General Public License (GPL) before the end of this year.

Java is already a leader in the enterprise software development field. Most of the programming languages that power the web -- like Perl, Python and PHP, have been open source since their inception. They are the de facto standard in web hosting and programming, when it comes to internet first timers and smaller development teams. Java remains a choice for experienced professionals and the enterprise, even with regard to web development, but maybe in the coming years the publicity and larger community, associated with going open source, will further encourage adoption and the growth of new projects.

The past week's second important announcement is from well known mobile phone manufacturer Nokia, who acquired the Symbian operating system and is now releasing it under the Eclipse open source license. With competing Google Android slated for release next year, it is clear that Nokia will need all the developers and attention for Symbian it can get. The internet and related services are increasingly spilling out of the PC to handheld devices, and the battle for the mobile platform of the future will be a contested one.

Finally, an online social bookmarking and community platform that is second only to Digg in the number of visitors it draws is now yours to download, tinker with, and deploy. reddit [sic], previously the sole property of publishing powerhouse Conde Nast, was released under an open source license. Don't get too excited, however; making reddit code run is not likely to be a trivial task, given the esoteric collection of software that is listed as required further down the stack. Still, reddit's own community contains a sizable proportion of upbeat programmers, and the project will get a lot of loving attention in the months to come.

No word from Microsoft yet about plans to open source key properties.