How Java Sparked an Open Source Revolution 30 Years Ago
Java is 30 years old this month, but continues to thrive, and according to Brian Fox, founder of Sonatype and steward of Maven Central, the language’s greatest legacy may be its role in democratizing open source software development.
“It makes me feel old,” Fox admits with a laugh when asked about Java’s three-decade milestone. But age, in this case, comes with wisdom and an impressive track record that continues to grow.
The Open Source Catalyst
Before Java emerged in 1995, incorporating open source code into projects was difficult, Fox said. Developers faced a frustrating ritual of hunting down C files, copying and pasting code, and spending weeks just trying to make anything compile, he noted. “It always seemed like it was more work than just writing the code yourself,” Fox told The New Stack.
However, Java changed everything. The introduction of Java ARchive (JAR) files created easily consumable modules, while Maven‘s arrival made dependency management possible. Suddenly, developers could understand and manage the complex web of dependencies that came with any significant library — those “15 or 100 other things” needed to make a single JAR file work. Maven is a project management and build automation tool used primarily for Java projects.
“I distinctly remember the first time I was actually able to build an open source project,” Fox said. “You could look at the code and say, ‘I want to change it this way,’ but you might spend a week just trying to figure out how to build something.”
The impact was transformative. By lowering barriers to entry, Java enabled a generation of developers to contribute to open source projects. The language’s modularity and portability, combined with Maven’s standardized approach to dependencies, created a blueprint that would influence other programming languages that followed, Fox said.
The Template for Modern Development
Fox said that if you look at any modern programming language’s ecosystem today, you’ll see some of Java’s DNA: npm for JavaScript, pip for Python, NuGet for .NET and gem for Ruby all borrowed from the concepts Java and Maven pioneered, he said.
“Languages that came after it basically copied all those concepts,” he said. “You could see that there was sort of an inflection point that I think came from Java and Maven in terms of influencing the languages that came after.”
But the one notable exception proves the rule, Fox said. When Go launched without a default package manager, it struggled with 10 to 15 competing standards, Fox said. “I think that actually slowed the adoption,” he noted. “It wasn’t until they really centered on a single, strongly defined package manager for that ecosystem that it started to become more accessible.”
Still Growing After All These Years
Despite frequent predictions of Java’s demise, the numbers tell a different story. Maven Central, which Sonatype operates, hosts more than 671,000 open source projects — and that number is growing by 7% year over year, Fox said. Even more impressive, downloads of these projects surged 36% in the past year alone. Maven Central is the world’s largest repository of open source Java components, Fox said.
“We talk about Java being old and not cool anymore, and everybody wants to do something different,” Fox said. “But the reality is the amount of software still being developed on Java continues to grow. We haven’t seen the top of the curve yet.”
This sustained growth sets Java apart from the specialized languages that have emerged in recent years. Python dominates data science and AI, JavaScript rules frontend development and Go has found its niche in cloud deployments. But none have achieved Java’s breadth as a general-purpose language, Fox explained.
The Maturity Advantage
The one major disruption came with the transition from Java 8 to newer versions, particularly the introduction of the module system. This created adoption hurdles reminiscent of Python’s painful release 2 to release 3 migration, though not as severe, Fox said. Many organizations remain stuck on Java 8, but Fox notes that once they clear this hurdle, staying current becomes much easier.
Security Through Stability
Java’s mature ecosystem has another advantage: security. Fox points out that Maven Central has seen only a handful of potentially malicious components over the years, compared to hundreds of thousands in npm and Python repositories. This isn’t accidental — it’s the result of established standards and careful curation that have evolved over decades.
“Part of that comes from some of the standards that were put in place, not just from Java but from Maven and also Sonatype running the central repo,” Fox explained. His company has spent more than 20 years helping organizations tap into open source responsibly while avoiding license violations and security vulnerabilities.
What Comes Next?
So, what will eventually replace Java? Fox is refreshingly honest: “Something will, obviously, at some point, but I’ve been waiting for that to happen for a very long time.”
He struggled to identify a clear successor among current languages. Go seemed promising a decade ago, but has settled into its cloud native niche, Fox said. The next major shift might not be a new human-readable language at all, he said.
“I think it’s probably a coin flip that the next language is just designed for AI bots and not for humans to consume,” Fox speculates. “Maybe something that none of us can read because it’s AI-generated gobbledygook.”
The Grandparent of Modern Languages
Looking back at Java’s three decades, Fox sees it as a watershed moment in programming history. Languages before Java — C, C++, Fortran, Ada — were fundamentally different in their approach to reusability and dependency management. Java established patterns that became standard for virtually every language that followed.
“I feel like Java is sort of the grandparent of all the modern languages,” he reflects.
As Java enters its fourth decade, it faces the same questions that have followed it for years: Is it too old? Will something newer and shinier replace it? But if the past 30 years have taught us anything, it’s that betting against Java’s staying power is a risky proposition.
