Ja.NET is About Leveraging Java Investments on .NET
Ja.NET is an open source community whose focus is dedicated to delivering an open Java platform comprised of tools, libraries, and runtimes for the .NET platform. Our purpose is simple: Establish a community of interest, together with a set of open source projects, focused on delivering what is necessary for the open source, software and IT industries to leverage their enormous investments in Java (e. g., code, Java skills, development processes, etc.) on the .NET platform.
Open to Anyone
Ja.NET is open to anyone including individuals, companies, and other open source communities. Our desire is that Ja.NET becomes a place for all who have the common interest of leveraging their Java investments on .NET; a place that brings together the scattered individuals, groups, organizations, and companies that desire .NET to be “just another platform supported by Java”; a place for these groups to collaborate and interact, to share code and techniques, and to establish the many OSS projects that are needed to enable Java as a first class development and runtime environment for .NET.
Ja.NET is About Java Portability to .NET
To be clear, we are not talking about projects related to integration tools and middleware such as web services, or messaging middleware or ESBs. Nor are we talking about all of the other Java/.NET integration technologies that exist today. Instead, the community's focus is on portability. We wish Ja.NET to become a community dedicated to delivering the tools, libraries and middleware that enable Java to become a first class development and runtime environment for .NET. Certainly the ability to integrate Java and .NET will be a byproduct of our projects at times, but it is not intended to be the main concern of the community. For example, we hope that the software this community delivers will eliminate the need to fork and translate Java OSS projects (e.g., Spring.NET, NUnit, NHibernate, etc.) to C# just so they can run on .NET. We also hope to negate the need to build JNI bridges that load the .NET VM just so a Java-based application can use the services of the .NET runtime (e.g., Eclipse 3.3 with Vista/WPF support). If we are able to deliver true portability, these interim and rather kludgy tasks will not be necessary.
Ja.NET SE is Core - But More is Needed!
We have "kicked off" our first project; the development of a Java 5 JDK for .NET. We've named it "Ja.NET SE", and we are making good progress towards delivering the first release. It is a core and critical component of Java on .NET, so we are working hard to get it right. We are posting builds regularly, so feel free to download one and give it a try. Of course, if you run into any problems, please let us know so we can resolve them as soon as possible! Our hope is, as we complete Ja.NET SE, others will step up to establish additional OSS Ja.NET projects that build upon what has been done. We want others to join in the fun and expand the Java tools, libraries and middleware available on .NET to provide the community what it needs to leverage their Java investments.
Get Involved!
So, if you share in the Ja.NET vision, and want to join in the fun, then there are many ways in which you can get involved. We certainly can use the help!