Google To Adopt OpenJDK APIs For The Android N

The market hasn’t fully absorbed Android Marshmallow just yet, but Google is already back to their engineering labs with Android N in the works. And rumor has it that the Android N will support OpenJDK APIs and not just Google’s implementation of the Oracle platform. Pundits are saying that this move may broker a “ceasefire” between the two tech companies.

To refresh your memory, Oracle filed a lawsuit against Google in 2010, citing that Google may have used some of Java’s basic programming interfaces and integrated it into Android. Since then, a San Francisco jury has decided that Google had, indeed infringed upon Oracle’s intellectual property rights. Google has since tried to bring the case to the Supreme Court, but the Supreme Court refused to hear the case.

Oracle points out that while Android has enjoyed a user-base reaching up to a billion users, it complains that they, on the other hand, have suffered continual user and developer decline. Although the San Francisco jury has agreed that Google may have infringed upon Oracle’s intellectual property rights, the case is nowhere near a resolution yet.

This new development, wherein Google is set to use OpenJDK APIs, which essentially integrates Open Source code, moves Android into an even more Open-Source paradigm. In the first place, Android is already based on Linux, an Open-Source platform, and Android in itself is also an Open-Source OS, which enables developers to freely modify the OS for their use. The only mistake that Google may have made in developing the Android OS has been to integrate proprietary interfaces from Oracle. Since the case is nowhere near resolution just yet, sanctions for Google have not yet been outlined.

The co-founder of Codename One, Shai Almog, has speculated that this move may indicate a settlement between the two tech companies. As it is, nothing’s final, just yet, as, “the jury is still out” on the matter.

In spite of the news of this development, though, there is no release date set yet for Android N. Google is also mum on the definite date of Android N’s rollout. In any case, the use of OpenJDK APIs for the Android is welcome news for the Open Source and Android Developer communities.

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Read more about the use of OpenJDK for Android N: https://www.infoworld.com/article/3018787/java/android-open-source-move-could-boost-java-and-aid-in-legal-battles-with-oracle.html

Read more about the Oracle vs. Google Lawsuit: https://www.infoworld.com/article/2951760/intellectual-property/oracle-tries-to-beef-up-copyright-case-against-android.html