It was forked: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenJDK The problem is that the browser plugin and WebStart parts of Java are not included in OpenJDK. But OpenJDK is excellent and widely used.

The Australian government is excellent at selling to the public products that the public have paid to produce. In the US (at least in theory) products of the US government are in the public domain and not eligible for copyright. I know, there are tons of things the US government produces that are exempt from this. I know this is a simplistic view, but Australia should not be selling things to people that they have already bought with their tax dollars.

I didn't see this mentioned, but the sponsoring company has to make a Labor Condition Application for H-1B applicants. In this application they have to show that the visa candidate is going to be paid a salary at or above the "prevailing wage". Of course there are ways and means to avoid this but at least in principle is supposed to make a H-1B worker no more attractive to an employer than an American.

Did you know that people in North America pronounce "solder" as "sodder"? I had no idea until I moved to the US and I still find it hilarious!

You're never going to get a straight answer about why the position is vacant, waste of a question.

*Woosh* :)

Why?

I thought the ring of police stationed 24 hours a day around the Ecuadorian embassy in London was evidence enough of the UK government's intentions!

Where is the +1 (Hilariously Paranoid) button?

I don't like it when healthy competition between two companies in a capitalist system is described as a "bitter fight" or "war", "battle", etc. It's sensationalist journalism and it completely mischaracterizes the nature of the healthy competition which is necessary for innovation to occur.

I'd love to see the Robot as an option because of the hours of comedy genius "he" and Dr. Smith gave to us!

I dunno.. the Coast Guard?

Any company should be expected to do whatever it can legally do to avoid paying tax. As should we all. I'm for tax reform in the US, including a flat federal sales tax. But it's not going to happen, nor is Amazon going to end up collecting sales tax from Californians anytime soon.

Slashdot, you need to remove this article. The summary is incorrect, poorly written and does nothing but spread fear and confusion. It shouldn't pass even the most basic editorial checks. I find it pretty awful that it hasn't already been taken down given how many other people have pointed this out.

I hate the categorisation of companies providing competing products to consumers in a marketplace as "war". War is generally counter-productive and destructive, competition is necessary and healthy.