W00t! GPL Java!

With most (all?) of the "scary" viral components rendered non-issues for the average developer. And non-GPL'd versions will remain available to those still frightened off by the whole thing. (Sun retains the copyright/left, so is free to license it under multiple licensing models.)

The semi-official announcement is here.

I imagine this means that for Sun to accept contributions into their tree, you have to surrender the copyright to your contribution. Somebody correct me on that.

Java has really benefited from the competition .Net brought to the game, and it's better off for it. There's been a lot more velocity in Java in the last five years. And this will just kick in the afterburners.