Sun to offer Java code to public

Computer server and software maker Sun Microsystems Inc. said Monday that it had begun to make its Java technology an open-source software project available for free on the Internet.

The announcement represents one of the largest additions of computer code to the open-source community -- and it marks a major shift for a company that had once fiercely protected the source code used in 3.8 billion cellphones, supercomputers, medical devices and other gadgets.

Santa Clara, Calif.-based Sun said it was making nearly all of Java’s source code -- excluding small pockets of code that aren’t owned by Sun -- available under the GNU General Public License.

Making Java an open-source project allows programmers to examine, modify, fix bugs and contribute new features in Java’s underlying code. The project requires that any changes be made public.

Sun, a formerly highflying dot-com that has lost billions of dollars since the stock market collapse of 2000, has hitched its rebound strategy in part to the growing open source movement.

Rich Green, Sun’s executive vice president of software, said the company hoped to turn more developers into Java programmers, who may then create additional software to support Sun products.