Microsoft announced plans to support an open-source version of Java on both its Windows Azure IaaS and PaaS platforms at last week’s O’Reilly Open Source Convention in Portland, Oregon. Microsoft will offer the Java Standard Edition (Java SE) and will work with Azul Systems to “build, certify and distribute a compliant OpenJDK-based distribution meeting the Java SE specification for use with Windows Server environments on Azure.” Azul will collaborate with Microsoft’s wholly-owned subsidiary Microsoft Open Technologies to develop the new OpenJDK in an effort that will focus largely on compliance, standards and specifications given Microsoft’s experience of being sued by Sun Microsystems for developing a non-compliant version of Java. Sunnyvale, CA-based Azul Systems is an experienced provider of Java runtime to enterprises that specializes in optimizing enterprise usage of Java by improving performance, scalability, latency, response times and consistency. Azul will license the OpenJDK on Azure under a GNU General Public License (GPL) version 2 and certify it for compliance with Java SE.
Microsoft’s support of Java on its Azure platform comes in the wake of a partnership announced in June whereby Oracle software such as Java will be certified and supported by Oracle to run on the Azure platform and Microsoft’s Hyper-V virtualization technology.
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