James Gosling, AKA the father of Java, has announced on his personal blog that he is starting work at Google.

"I had a hard time saying 'no' to a bunch of other excellent possibilities.  I find it odd that this time I'm taking the road more travelled by, but it looks like interesting fun with huge leverage."

There are lots of reasons why Google would want to employ Gosling but at this particular time, with a lawsuit pending from Oracle, it makes sense to employ the man who registered many of the patents that Oracle is using.

He currently doesn't have a job title (or he isn't letting on) but...

"I don't know what I'll be working on. I expect it'll be a bit of everything, seasoned with a large dose of grumpy curmudgeon."

After leaving Oracle Gosling has been campaigning for Java to be open source and generally telling stories about how it used to be at Sun and occasionally about how bad it was at Oracle. His attitude towards Google hasn't always been positive with some initially harsh words about Android. If nothing else Google provides a sure footing for him to continue being an irritation to Oracle.

Whatever happens next I'm sure that Java community wishes him well and hopes that he has fun. There is no doubt that with Gosling at Google the Java world is a more interesting place.

More information

James Gosling's blog

Google backs out of JavaOne - the protest grows

Oracle sues Google for Android Java use

Java Man Quits Sun