Sun President and CEO Jonathan Schwartz says his company plans to announce that it's opening up the Java platform's source code within the next 30 to 60 days. Sun will release the source for the Standard Edition of the Java Platform under an Open Source Initiative-approved license like the one under which Sun currently offers the source code for its Solaris operating system.

The core platform encompasses the Standard Edition of Java, and it will be offered via an open source format under an OSI (Open Source Initiative)-approved license, likely the same one used for Sun's open source Solaris OS. Sun officials, including Rich Green, Sun executive vice president for software, have talked about Java being offered via open source in stages later this year and into 2007. Parts of it, such as the Java Enterprise Edition, already are available via open source, with the GlassFish application server constituting the open source enterprise variant.