JavaOne 2010 is about to start. It will be the first JavaOne under Oracle’sstewardship of Java. While there will be lots of interesting sessions andBOFs during the conference, special attention will be paid to the messagesOracle is sending to the developer community.
After Oracle acquired Sun Microsystems, a lot has been said about Oracle’splans with Java — mainly by others. The opinions vary between “Oraclewill be a much better Java steward than Sun was” and “Oracle want tomake quick bucks on Java and then abandon it”.
Next week, Oracle will have plenty of opportunities to show its plans.Not only their own investment in the Java technology is important to know,I am personally very interested in hearing if and how Oracle is going toinvest in the developer community.
During the Sun stewardship of Java, there was a move towards more communityinvolvement. Compared with the early days of Java, developers now haveeasier access, many parts are open-sourced, and a number of communitiesexist around specific products (e.g. Glassfish).
Why should Oracle invest in the Java community? Clearly, most of Oracle’ssoftware products and middleware rely on Java.
Today, software development happensinside companies, on the Internet or on a combination of both. In orderto broaden the market for the middleware products, it is in Oracle’sbenefit to support the development of Java products outside Oracle.The more Java developers there are, the more common Java is, the easier itis to find developers and customers for the Oracle middleware products.
Apart from Oracle’s financial investment in Java, I wonder if they willfulfill their request from 2007, and create an independent Java Foundation.See this blogentry from James Gosling for more information.
Oracle, you have a whole week the opportunity to steal the hearts of thedevelopers!
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