Licensing model change for Jini technology

This is a milestone day for Jini technology and the Jini Community!

Sun has taken a number of steps to open up the licensing model for
Jini technology to facilitate its broader adoption and technical
advancement. This is the result of a great deal of work and discussion
in the Jini Community - thank you all for your interest, participation,
and passion. The end result is a model that gives developers and companies
broad freedom of choice for licensing their Jini technology works. We
hope you'll embrace this change by broadly using, evangelizing, and
advancing Jini technology and the Community... and also by taking a moment
to celebrate! (Beers all around!)   :-)

I'd like to put today's events into a larger context with this mail.
There is much to describe, and it can get confusing, so we strongly
encourage you to ask questions.  Also note that this is not the end of
our collective work, as we still need to align other pieces with this
license model change, including: updates to the Jini Community Decision
Process (JDP), evolution of Jini.org, etc.

Here are the details:

1)  Sun has opened up the licensing model for Jini technology by implementing
    three initial fundamental steps:
     * Sun is re-licensing its Jini technology Standards specifications
       to enable greater freedoms in using and implementing these Standards.
     * Sun is re-licensing its Jini technology source code contributions,
       including the Jini Technology Starter Kit, to enable broader (both
       research and commercial) access, use, freedom in creating derived
       works, and distribution.
     * Sun has published a "Notice of Relief of Certain Obligations", which
       is available at the Technology Site:
       http://www.sun.com/software/jini/jini_technology.xml
       This relief enables Jini SCSL licensees the freedom to choose their
       own license for Jini technology source and object code that they've
       developed. An excerpt from the first paragraph of the Relief:
       ".. Sun will not require You to treat as Covered Code any source
       or object code You wrote which implements any portion of the Technology
       Specifications. Note that You must continue to treat all Covered Code
       licensed from other parties (including Sun) under the Agreement as Covered
       Code. This means that Your Commercial Use of any implementation containing
       any Covered Code licensed from other parties must continue to satisfy all
       obligations for Compliant Implementations."

     The combined result of these actions is an opening of the licensing
     model to enable broader use and distribution of Jini technology. This
     new environment gives developers broad freedom of choice for their
     Jini technology works. Note that current Jini SCSL licensees may choose,
     but are not required, to take advantage of the license model change.

2) Sun, in collaboration with the Jini Community, has chosen the Apache License,
   Version 2.0 (ALv2) for its Jini technology code and specifications. ALv2 was
   determined as the best fit for Sun's Jini technology contributions as it met
   those requirements most important to Sun and the Jini Community.

   Sun has released the latest version of the Jini Technology Starter Kit,
   version 2.1Beta under ALv2 in this new model (available at:
   http://starterkit.jini.org ). Sun will be re-licensing its other Jini
   technology contributions under ALv2 over time.

   Sun is re-licensing its Jini technology Standard specifications under
   ALv2 and providing a separate "Jini Community Standards Patent
   Non-Assertion Covenant ("Covenant") that enables others to create
   unrestricted independent implementations of the specifications. This
   Covenant is available at:
   http://www.jini.org/standards/docs/jcs-pna-covenant.txt

   This choice of ALv2, as well as the wording of the Covenant, were made
   with the hope and expectation that they be used by many others in the Jini
   Community to share their Jini technology code and Standards Proposals.
   License choice is now a freedom that developers and companies in the Jini
   Community have for their Jini technology works. It is hoped that Sun's
   lead with ALv2 will help act as a catalyst for others to choose ALv2 for
   their shared works. The resulting commonality around ALv2 will help simplify
   and facilitate code sharing and collaboration throughout the Jini Community.

3) The license model change aims at continued strong growth of the Jini Community.
   We've built an active, diverse, and global Community of individual developers,
   commercial companies, organizations, and academia using and advancing Jini
   technology. The openness, accessibility, and new opportunities created by this
   license model change will help fuel continued strong interest and involvement
   in the Jini Community. Jini.org will evolve to take advantage of the license model
   change, and enable more open and easily accessible Jini technology projects.
   The Jini Community Decision Process (JDP) will remain a fundamental structure
   for the Jini Community to reach agreements on such things as Standards.

Best,
  - Jim Hurley
  - Bob Scheifler

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