Are programming Languages Owned?

[chrstrbrts]

Hi,

I know that programming languages are created, updated, and maintained by certain institutions / companies, Java and Oracle for example.

But are these languages formally owned? That is, do these companies own any rights to these languages? Are they ever payed royalties for use of their languages when developers use them to create lucrative pieces of software?

What would be the incentive for creating a new programming language besides simple glory?

Thank you.

 

[Markbnj]

They can be. I believe Oracle still holds the rights to Java (acquired through their acquisition of Sun). But there is no money in selling a programming language, so "owning" one is more about having the right to control its destiny.

 

[chrstrbrts]

They can be. I believe Oracle still holds the rights to Java (acquired through their acquisition of Sun). But there is no money in selling a programming language, so "owning" one is more about having the right to control its destiny.

Thanks.

 

[Graze]

They can be. I believe Oracle still holds the rights to Java (acquired through their acquisition of Sun). But there is no money in selling a programming language, so "owning" one is more about having the right to control its destiny.

Could someone tell me why Google didn't buy Sun? When they were basically up for sale I swore Google was going to snatch them up!
...I digress I know.

 

[Cogman]

Could someone tell me why Google didn't buy Sun? When they were basically up for sale I swore Google was going to snatch them up!
...I digress I know.

Sun was "OK" with what google and android were doing. I think google really didn't need 90% of the tech that sun was peddling (and it was pretty apparent that tech wasn't highly profitable based on the fact that sun sunk).

Oracle, on the other hand, really wanted the to break into the server business and to own MySQL. So they were willing to pay a pretty penny for sun.