LICENSING TECHNOLOGIES

Jini technology is operating-system-independent and is controlled by the Jini software user community, which has free access and the right to extend and modify the Jini technology source code.

Sun provides access to Jini source code under what they call the Sun Community Source License (SCSL). This license is designed to provide virtually free and easy access to all the Jini source code by developers, while allowing Sun to ensure that Jini products remain compatible with one another and that the Jini source does not splinter into incompatible versions. The community license model allows very open access to source code, while promoting compatibility among the developer community. And yet it does not require companies or developers to hand their Jini home applications back to Sun. Now, let's take a closer look at how to license Jini technologies. The SCSL defines three levels of usage of the source code, with increasing responsibilities for each. At the first level, you can obtain the source code for research use. This allows you complete access to the source for personal, research and educational uses, or to evaluate the source for possible deployment. The license itself is just a "click through" page on the Sun download page. At this level, you are free to learn about the technology, modify the source, and try it out on your home network. At the next level is the internal use license. If you've been using the Jini software under the research arrangement, you can move to this level of access and responsibility without any extra legal overhead—there is nothing to sign, and you do not need to notify Sun of your use of the technology. The only requirement of this level is that Jini naming conventions need to be followed. This requirement has been designed by Sun to ensure that home network applications will have complete interoperability and compatibility with third-party Jini applications on the Internet.

Finally, if you run a development house and want to sell new home networking products based on Jini source code, you must graduate to the commercial use arrangement. Unlike the two previous usage models, which are free, selling a home application based on Jini requires you to sign the commercial use community source license with Sun. This licenses still imposes only minimal requirements on you, though: your responsibility for maintaining compatibility increases. Sun intends the community licensing approach to be the best of both worlds—easy and relatively unfettered access to source code, while still ensuring some degree of compatibility and co-evolution of the code. The SCSL process is still evolving, and Sun is actively soliciting feedback on their licensing strategies. Full details of Jini's community licensing model are available from Sun's Web site at: http://java.sun.com/products/jini/licensing/.