The Monthly GNU Column
Brave GNU World
This column explores the world of free software from the perspective of the GNU Project and the FSF. In this issue,we focus on:The Java Trap,GNU Classpath,development in Java, and news from the FSFE.
Welcome to another issue of the Brave GNU World. The focus this month is Java; we will look at the subject of freedom and, more specifically, at the efforts to establish a free Java infrastructure. Freedom in Chains? To judge from the number of email messages I received from irate readers in response to my discussion of the Mindmapping Software Freemind, I seem to have trodden on a few people’s toes. The reason for the flames was a statement that Freemind, like many other programs, is thoughtlessly based on a non-free Java implementation, which endangers the freedom of the software.