That worries some Java users. But it shouldn't. They'll still be able to choose a widely used, highly standardized Java, just as they always have. If there are another thousand one-off versions floating around the Internet, not to worry -- no one has to use them.

In fact, that'll be a much less risky situation for Java users than we had in the late 1990s, when Hewlett-Packard was writing its own Java clone and Sun sued Microsoft for making its Windows version of Java incompatible with Sun's original. Fragmentation? Incompatability? Been there, done that. Java survived.

And once Java is freed from vendors' political jockeying and Sun's resource limitations, maybe we'll see the return of some of those original Java ideas. Universal desktop? Write once, run anywhere? Sun couldn't make those a reality. Now the hordes of open-source developers will get their shot.

Even if they get it wrong, we should see some very interesting failures. And if they get it right? We'll all get to leverage their success.

Yes, Java has reached the end of its useful life for Sun. Java won't sell anymore servers or feed Sun's Windows-bashing. Now the smartest thing Sun can do is to open-source it, and fast. That's when the Java excitement can begin all over again.