At its E-services Developer’s Conference, Hewlett-Packard announced it will make the source code for its e-speak technology freely available to developers. E-speak is supposed to negotiate services and purchases over the Internet — so each cellular call might come from the provider with the best rate, for example. HP also announced the formation of its E-speak Developer’s Program and plans for a Wireless Access Protocol (WAP) service development kit. Wireless figures big in HP’s hopes for the language, since examples given by HP invariably include cell phones and palmtops. HP’s plan to make e-speak “open source,” will use the Gnu General Public License, the same license Linux is distributed under. Anybody will be able to use e-speak technology and modify it, but a competitor’s changes to e-speak would have to be published if it wants to sell or give away its modified software. This choice of licensing is less restricted than the Shared Source plan announced for MPE/iX this year.

E-speak doesn’t have a strong tie yet to the HP 3000, but the company is clearly making it the linchpin of its e-services strategy. In announcements at HP World, Oracle said it will optimize its 8i database to use e-speak, and HP and Oracle will jointly develop and test e-speak. When HP provides a company with its hardware and services in return for a slice of the company’s revenues, Oracle8i will be the default database. This is making 3000 developers working in Oracle-based companies wonder if the rise of e-speak could help lift Oracle8 into the HP 3000’s camp. Oracle’s supporters in the Bangalore wing of CSY are hopeful for a positive push in a few months.