Python finally succeeds in cross-platform areas where Java has been failing...

[Harry George]

Roy Smith <roy at panix.com> writes:

> How much of Python's cross-platform advantage over Java is due to the 
> single source of the Python interpreter and how much is due to the 
> language itself?
> 
> There's certainly nothing (that I'm aware of, other than time, money, 
> and skill) to stop me from writing my own Python interpreter, making 
> some subtle changes in behavior (either intentionally or by accident) 
> and promoting it in the field.  If I could convince enough people to 
> install it, we'd suddenly have a cross-platform crisis in the Python 
> world.
> 
> This is really all that's happened in the Java world.  The above 
> scenario describes what Microsoft did to Java. The only difference 
> between me doing my own Python and Microsoft doing their own Java is 
> that Microsoft has the resources and desire to pull it off.
> 
> What would happen if Microsoft saw Python as a threat and decided to 
> kill it by shipping their own incompatable Python interpreter with 
> Windows?  Would we have any defense?


Sure, the std open source software (OSS) defenses:

1. If the alternative is open source itself, then std OSS rules of
   engagement apply.  Thus, if the alternative has a few good ideas,
   they will be absorbed by the main line.  If the whole alternative
   is better, the community may shift over en masse (a la gcc a few
   years ago).  If not, everyone will know it and will avoid the
   alternative.  Legal use of the Python name is (I think) up to PSF.

2. If the alternative implementation (including all libraries and all
   extensions) was completely green-room, then it could perhaps be
   kept closed source.  In that case it might take a while to realize
   it was incompatible.  For a bad enough mismatch, the name "Python"
   might be withheld, just as SUN fought MS's use of "Java" for
   J++.  When word got out, very likely there would be a backlash, and
   people would avoid it if they could.

3. "avoid it if they could" is the crux of the issue.  If MS
   orchestrates DRM, Palladium, etc. so that only MS-owned languages
   can play on a MS Win** box, then MS might offer something like
   python functionality (e.g., that is the sales pitch for C#).  Under
   these circumstances, it is up to the buyer to beware of lockins.
   So long as PSF doesn't authorize MS use of "Python" for that
   purpose, there will still not be a split.


-- 
harry.g.george at boeing.com
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