James Duncan Davidson stated the money question for java.net.

Part of the answer will be in what Sun's reaction to this community is. And part of it will be found in the people who show up to build that community. So then that leads to another question: Why should you participate?

Here's his answer:

For myself the answer is: I'm participating on the blogging side of things because I want Java to become more open. When I worked at Sun I fought many battles for that to happen. Some succeeded. Some didn't. But even though I'm no longer inside of Sun (two years of freedom this month!), I still want Java to succeed. And for that to happen, it has to become more open.

I don't have an answer right now. I agree with James that Java needs to be more open. Unfortunately, I think that Sun (the corporation) is the biggest obstacle to that right now. java.net is probably going to attract attention. And as we've all heard umpteen times by now, people's attention is finite. java.net has just made life harder for a whole bunch of people outside Sun who have been working hard to make Java succeed. Is the way to help the broader community to drain away energy from communities that are already working and re-channel it into building a new community, one whose heart we don't know yet? I don't know.