Red Hat and Sun Microsystems have finally found something to agree upon. On Monday, Red Hat signed a pact with Sun to advance open-source Java software. Specifically, Red Hat signed Sun’s contributor agreement that covers participation in all Sun-led, open-source projects by all Red Hat engineers.Red Hat also signed Sun’s OpenJDK Community TCK License Agreement. Red Hat said it is committed to contributing to the Java platform and to distributing a compatible, open-source Java software implementation.

“Red Hat fully supports Sun’s courageous decision to open-source Java technology,” said Sacha Labourey, CTO of JBoss, a division of Red Hat, in a statement. “After more than 10 years of continuous leadership, the Java technology ecosystem will enter an era of accelerated innovation and benefit from extreme pervasiveness on a wide range of environments.”

Red Hat is the first major vendor to license the Java SE Technology Compatibility Kit in support of Java SE compatibility. But what does this mean to you and me? Better Java and Better Red Hat. If you use either of these technologies, this is good news. Red Hat and Sun, the inventor of Java, have been antagonists in the open-source arena. This partnership will make our lives easier in the end.

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