JSR Watch

Focus on Java Mobility

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:15:00 EST

For several months now a subset of the JCP's Executive Committees has been meeting as the Java ME Working Group to address Java ME-specific matters. In this column I'll focus on Java ME and on some of the issues that the Working Group has been discussing. (To follow our activities, check out our bulletin board at jcp.org.)

JSR Watch: Summer Housekeeping

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 13:15:00 EDT

It's summer. JavaOne is behind us, and much of Europe is on holiday :) At this time of year life in the JCP slows down somewhat. Nevertheless JSRs continue to move through the process, and this month I'll discuss several of these, and demonstrate how their progress has been facilitated by some of the housekeeping changes we've recently made in our processes.

JSR Watch: JavaOne Wrap-up

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 17:45:00 EDT

The year’s biggest Java community event – JavaOne – finished recently. As it is for others in the Java world, this is a busy time for the JCP. We host various events for our members, we participate in discussions and BOFs, and like all other attendees, we enjoy the opportunity to meet with members of the Java developer community. In this column I’ll review our JavaOne activities, and also discuss the new version of our jcp.org website, which we hope will encourage and enable even more community involvement in our work.

JSR Watch: Here’s to Progress

Fri, 15 May 2009 15:00:00 EDT

The end of the year is an opportunity to review the past year’s activity, and to present this to our Executive Committee (EC) members, to our broader membership, and to the general public. So this month I will summarize our progress during the past year. First, in addition to the ongoing work of moving JSRs through the process (more on this later), the JCP engaged in a couple of new initiatives around transparency and agility.

JSR Watch: Focus on Spec Leads

Tue, 12 May 2009 17:15:00 EDT

The Java Community Process requires the development of not only technical specifications, but also Reference Implementations (which prove that specs can be implemented) and conformance test suites (Technology Compatibility Kits or TCKs), which are used to verify that implementations conform to the specifications.

The JCP's Election Results

Wed, 18 Feb 2009 16:01:00 EST

The JCP’s annual elections for our Executive Committees (ECs) are now complete. As a reminder, during the first round the following members were nominated by Sun and ratified by the community: Nokia, Philips, and IBM for the Java ME EC; and Ericsson, SpringSource, and SAP for the Java SE/EE EC. In the second round of the elections, during which all members are free to nominate themselves, voters had to choose two members for each EC.

Election Time

Thu, 12 Feb 2009 12:00:00 EST

I’m writing this article on the day before the US presidential Election. As happens, we’re also in the middle of the JCP’s annual election cycle. Our elections consist of two phases. The first round, during which members vote for three ratified seats on each Executive Committee (EC), has recently been completed. The second round, for two elected seats on each EC, is about to begin. (The election process is described briefly at http://jcp.org/en/whatsnew/elections and in more detail in our Process Document.

Transparency, Agility, and Democracy

Mon, 22 Dec 2008 12:56:00 EST

A couple of months ago in this column I discussed the ways in which many Expert Groups conduct their business in an open and transparent manner. After that informal review, the JCP's Program Management Office (PMO) conducted a more formal survey, asking Spec Leads what they were doing to meet their obligations under the Java Community Process to operate in a transparent manner.

Smoke-Filled Rooms

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 19:15:00 EDT

It's sometimes argued that the Java Community Process's development procedures are secretive and that the general public is excluded from participating. While this may have been the case in the past, it's no longer true. The majority of JCP Expert Groups now do their work in an open and transparent manner, and this mode of operation is becoming increasingly common.

Java, Standards, and Free Software in Europe

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 16:30:00 EDT

Government intervention and direction has long been critical to the development of the computer industry. The Internet, after all, was derived from the ARPANET, developed in the early 1970s from a U.S. government-sponsored research project by the Advanced Research Projects Agency. Today local, national, and supranational governments from Latin America to the United States to Europe continue to influence the development of our industry.

Java and Free Software in Brazil

Fri, 30 May 2008 16:30:00 EDT

A couple of recent Brazil-related news events suggested the theme for this column: Java in Brazil. First, the annual International Free Software Forum (FISL) was recently held in Porto Alegre, Brazil. FISL is one of the world's most important free software conferences, and more than 7,400 people attended this year, including many from Sun's Java organization.

The JCP at the 2008 JavaOne Conference

Tue, 06 May 2008 10:00:00 EDT

As I write this the JCP's Program Office staff is busy preparing for this year's JavaOne Conference, to be held at the Moscone Center in San Francisco from May 6 through May 9. As you read this you're probably at the conference, or if you were unable to attend I hope you've had a chance to follow it via webcasts, blogs, and news reports.

Java, Open Source, Transparency and Community

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 12:45:00 EDT

In last month's article I wrote about Open Source and Open Standards. This month, having just returned from the QCon conference (http://jaoo.dk/london-2008/conference/) in London, during which I discussed the role of community in the JCP, and particularly the role that individual ('non-corporate') developers could play in the organization, I'd like to address some other aspect of openness: transparency of process and community involvement.

Open Source and Open Standards

Sat, 29 Mar 2008 11:00:00 EDT

As I write this article the 2008 FOSDEM (www.fosdem.org/2008/) (Free and Open Source software Developers European Meeting) is about to start. Of course, by the time you read this the meeting will be long over (that's the name of the game with publishing deadlines). I will not be attending, but several members of Sun's OpenJDK (http://openjdk.java.net/) team are gathering in Brussels to meet with the movers and shakers of the free and open source software world. This suggested the topic for this month's column, in which I will explore the relationship between open source and open standards

JSR Watch: Java Mobile and Embedded Spotlight

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 06:30:00 EST

As I recently spoke at the Java Mobile & Embedded Developer Days conference at Sun's Santa Clara campus, and the yearly Mobile World Congress conference was held in Barcelona in February, and the majority of the JSRs that have been active in the past few weeks are in the mobile space, I thought it would be opportune to focus on Java ME in this month's column.

JSR Watch: A Look Back at 2007 and A Look Ahead to 2008

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 11:15:00 EST

The turn of the year provides an opportunity to review the events of the past and to think about what lies ahead, so I'll address these themes in this month's column. But first I'd like to wish you all a peaceful and successful New Year. It's been a year of steady progress for the JCP. Our membership grew by more than 10% to a total of 1,427.

Final Results of the JCP Elections

Thu, 27 Dec 2007 12:00:00 EST

In October we announced the winners of the first round of this year's JCP elections, during which members voted for three Sun-nominated candidates on each Executive Committee (EC). To refresh your memory, the winners on the Java ME EC were Research in Motion (RIM), Samsung, and Time Warner Cable. The Java SE/EE EC winners were the Apache Software Foundation, Red Hat Middleware, and Nortel.

And the Winners Are...

Sat, 01 Dec 2007 16:00:00 EST

The first round of this year's JCP elections is complete. In this round Sun nominates members for election to six ratified seats on the Executive Committees (ECs): three seats on the Java ME Executive Committee (EC) and three on the Java SE/EE EC. A second round of elections takes place in November, during which members vote on candidates who nominate themselves for elected seats on the ECs.

JCP Elections: Time to Choose Your EC Representatives for 2008

Sun, 04 Nov 2007 14:00:00 EST

This is election time for the JCP: five seats on the Java ME Executive Committee (EC) and five seats on the Java SE/EE EC are up for re-election. All JCP members are eligible to vote and may cast one vote for each seat (hence the recommendation to vote often). The voting process is in two stages. During October members cast their votes for three ratified seats on each EC.

JSR Watch: From the New Chair of the JCP

Sun, 07 Oct 2007 08:00:00 EDT

In last month's column Onno Kluyt announced that he would be handing over the role of JCP chair to me. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Onno for all of the effort he's put into the JCP over the past several years, to thank the hard-working staff of the Program Management Office (who thankfully will not be moving on) for their support, and to introduce myself to the regular readers of this column.

Estival JSRs

Sat, 01 Sep 2007 12:00:00 EDT

It's been busy at the JCP for Spec Leads, Expert Groups, and Executive Committees over the summer. Quite a number of new proposals were submitted and were approved to be developed as JSRs; even more moved to new development stages, drawing closer to the finish line. And, I might add, that all happened at a balanced pace, meeting both the initial JSR development commitment and satisfying the rigors of developing complete RIs and TCKs in most the cases. Here are some of them.

Java Community Process - Annual Awards Winners

Sun, 22 Jul 2007 20:30:00 EDT

In the May column I introduced the candidates nominated by the community for the top 2007 JCP Awards- the JCP Program 5th Annual Awards. For those of you who missed the grand finale at the Community Event organized by the JCP at JavaOne, here's the line-up of winners.

The JCP and the OpenJDK Community

Thu, 05 Jul 2007 15:00:00 EDT

At the JavaOne conference earlier in May, Sun launched the OpenJDK project (http://openjdk.java.net). The OpenJDK project is Sun's Java SE implementation under the GPL license. While portions of the project, such as the compiler and Hotspot, were released at an earlier time, at the JavaOne conference all the class libraries and other source code that together making up JDK7 were launched. At the same time, Sun also announced an interim Governance Board for OpenJDK.

Java Community Process - Getting Ready to Choose the Year's Best

Tue, 29 May 2007 17:00:00 EDT

Every year the process of choosing the community's best starts with nominations in five categories: Member of the Year, Most Outstanding Spec Lead for Java Standard Edition/Enterprise Edition, Most Outstanding Spec Lead for Java Micro Edition, Most Innovative JSR for Java Standard Edition/Enterprise Edition, and Most Innovative JSR for Java Micro Edition. This year the JCP adds a new one: JCP Participant of the Year. At the time of writing the JCP Executive Committees (EC) representatives selected three to four nominees in each category and have another 10 days to vote for the winners. It's become a tradition to announce them at the community event the JCP organizes at JavaOne, which this year will host the fifth edition of the JCP Annual Awards.

JSR Bookmarks Presented by the Spec Leads

Wed, 09 May 2007 21:15:00 EDT

Interested in getting the latest on Java technology standards at the 2007 JavaOne Conference? A great opportunity is awaiting you because the show has a lot to offer this year too. There are over 60 events - technical sessions (TS), Birds-of-a-Feather meetings (BOF), and Hands On Labs - based on Java specifications developed or in development through the JCP. Here are a few of them presented by none other than the Spec Leads.

Behavioral & Philosophical Aspects of Communities

Tue, 20 Mar 2007 10:00:00 EDT

Whether it's a prescriptive environment like the JCP or a less prescriptive one like OpenJDK and other open source software forums, communities have a lot in common.

JCP.org Web Site Gets a New Life

Wed, 07 Mar 2007 12:00:00 EST

It's well known in Java community neighborhoods that the jcp.org site has been the communication lifeline for the JCP program since its inception. It's been the virtual meeting place for members, the primary source of information and updates about Java standards, and the spot where key interactions for the development of JSRs have occurred.

Ringing in the New Year

Sun, 11 Feb 2007 17:00:00 EST

The year 2006 was a great year for community technology development across the board. At the JCP, Spec Leads, Expert Groups members, observers and Executive Committee members worked together to take Java standards to the next level of development. Women Spec Leads had an outstanding contribution; in 2006 several of them won the distinction of Star Spec Leads for their leadership in driving Java specifications from concept, submission, standard development, to Technology Compatibility Kit (TCK) and Reference Implementation (RI) delivery. Ekaterina Chtcherbina was one of them. Always passionate about Java and the community, she felt strongly that 'Java technology for me is not just a programming language. Rather it is a new style of technology innovation. Java technology is not created somewhere and given as a final technology to everyone. Instead, the evolution of Java technology relies highly on the community input.'

The 2006 JCP EC Elections Are Over

Tue, 09 Jan 2007 01:15:00 EST

Congratulations go this year to IBM; Oracle, HP; Fujitsu; Doug Lea, professor of computer science; Motorola; Vodafone; Siemens; BenQ; Ericsson AB; and Jean-Marie Dautelle, individual developer and initiator of several open source projects. The first four are now re-elected on the SE/EE EC for another three-year term as a result of the Ratification Ballot and the fifth as a result of the Open Nominations/Election Ballot.

JSR 306 Gets Noticed, Draws Valuable Feedback

Fri, 08 Dec 2006 09:00:00 EST

Our new effort to improve and change the Java Community Process through JSR 306 is still young; however, developers and all those interested have already started to provide valuable feedback and share their opinions generously. One such place where opinions were expressed early was the poll on JCP change that the java.net site put up (http://today.java.net/pub/pq/123). 'Improving involvement of individuals' was the top pick, closely followed by 'Optimizing duration of JSRs.'

JCP: Shaping the Next Chapter

Thu, 09 Nov 2006 14:00:00 EST

The JCP evolves in much the same way as software: we gain experience with the current implementation, gather ideas from many sources, give an initial ordering to the many ideas, write a draft, get initial feedback, write another draft, get more feedback and so on, towards a reasonable consensus of what the next version of the product or process shall become.

SafeNet Introduces Java-Based Sentinel Hardware Keys for Red Hat Linux

Wed, 18 Oct 2006 08:00:00 EDT

SafeNet, Inc. has announced the release of Sentinel Hardware Keys for Linux platforms, allowing software developers in the Linux community to protect 32-bit software applications from piracy and implement flexible licensing models. Sentinel Hardware Keys are the most widely-deployed rights management tokens for protecting software vendors from unauthorized use or distribution of their products, thereby increasing revenue.

JCP Bookmarks

Mon, 02 Oct 2006 16:00:00 EDT

We'll be coming to the rescue and offering the training program virtually, yes, from the JCP.org site itself starting this September

The JCP Program: Beyond the 300 Mark

Tue, 05 Sep 2006 11:00:00 EDT

JavaOne has a catalyzing effect on Java developers: their enthusiasm and energies spike around the show; they ready their latest and greatest Java technology-based projects and solutions for the annual encounter with software programmers from around the world. Take for instance the JSR Spec Leads - they too intensify their efforts around the show to submit new JSRs to the program, advance work under development to the next stages, or finalize standards. JavaOne is a favorite event with JSR Spec Leads who don't miss on the opportunity to leverage the Conference as an ideal forum for sharing their accomplishments and forays into new Java standards projects with their fellow developers. The show's 2006 edition was no exception. Here are the JSRs that brought the JCP Program closer and closer to the 300 mark and crossed it in less than a month.

The 4th JCP Program Annual Awards Runners-Up

Thu, 03 Aug 2006 23:00:00 EDT

Last month I introduced to you the winners of the 4th JCP Program Annual Awards. But the story is only half told. To get the full picture and understand how tight the competition was, I'm inviting you to meet the runners-up for the JCP Program awards - those who came very close to winning the top honors this year. They are among the top performers to watch in the months and year ahead.

Meet the Winners of the 4th JCP Program Annual Awards

Fri, 30 Jun 2006 12:30:00 EDT

Last month at the 2006 JavaOne Conference, the Java Community Process (JCP) Program was brought into the spotlight repeatedly when Sun Microsystems CEO Jonathan Schwartz and other speakers urged attendees to join the community. The JCP made center stage again on Wednesday night at the JCP Program Community Event when the winners of the 4th JCP Annual Awards were announced. If you're not familiar with the selection process for the JCP Annual Awards, you should know that the JCP Executive Committees' (EC) representatives first select nominees and then cast votes to choose the winners from among them.

2006 JavaOne JSR Itineraries

Tue, 30 May 2006 16:30:00 EDT

It's JavaOne show time again. The Java Community Process (JCP) Program and its members have a lot to share from the latest Java specification (JSR) accomplishments showcased in a diversity of forms at the conference, including technical sessions (TS), birds-of-a-feather meetings (BOF), industry panels, training sessions, round tables, and community events. Let me give you a mini tour of some of the JSRs on the conference agenda this year.

Women Spec Leads Make History for Java Technology

Sun, 30 Apr 2006 17:00:00 EDT

Every March here in the U.S. we mark Women's History Month in recognition of women's contribution to the progress of our world. Technology and the Java platform are benefiting as well from women's talent and dedication and an instantiation of that is women engineers' contribution to the development of Java standards through the Java Community Process Program. Several of them won the distinction of Star Spec Leads for their leadership in driving Java specifications from concept, submission, standard development, Technology Compatibility Kit (TCK), and Reference Implementation (RI) delivery.

Six New Spec Leads Reach JCP Stardom

Tue, 28 Mar 2006 17:00:00 EST

The red carpet isn't rolled out just on Hollywood Boulevard this time of the year. It happens in our community too. Six new spec leads recently reached stardom and I'm inviting you to meet them in this month's column. Exceptional spec lead performance gets noticed by the community and acknowledged through awards and the Star Spec Leads distinction as a key ingredient for an effective and smooth JSR development process. It's already an established tradition for the community that occurs two or three times a year to raise its most successful spec leads to stardom. Folks like Danny Coward, Pierre Gauthier, Janna Majakangas, Éamonn McManus, Antti Rantalahti, and Bill Shannon have set the bar yet higher with the timely and quality delivery of their JSRs. I'm delighted to congratulate them on behalf of the community and wish them a good year ahead!

JSR Watch: Looking Back, Looking Ahead

Fri, 10 Feb 2006 09:00:00 EST

2005 may be remembered as the year of eating cake. I had the amusing honor of singing 'Happy Birthday' and eat cake in Sao Paolo, Ede, San Francisco, Tokyo, and a couple more places as many Java groups and organizations around the world wanted to be part of the 10th year of Java technology. Together we journeyed from being amazed at a dancing Duke in a Web page to the full-frame, full-speed 3D graphics in today's computer games, all with the same technology. Just this year many achievements and events took place that deserve a mention, and I'd like to share my thoughts with you of what can be behind some this and what they may mean for the year ahead.