Earlier this summer, Oracle, an American multinational computer technology company, made an announcement regarding the future of Java Enterprise Edition. They are considering moving Java EE technologies to an open-source foundation.
In a blog post, the technology giant stated that the move, “may be the right next step, in order to adopt more agile processes, implement more flexible licensing, and change the governance process.”
This decision is rooted in the fact that “Java EE is a hugely successful set of open standards for developing enterprise applications, but some Java EE enthusiasts and analysts have suggested it hasn’t kept up with developers’ preferences for lightweight frameworks, or with architectural trends.”
Oracle will continue to support Java EE implementations and any future implementations of Java EE 8. In addition, future evolution of Java EE technologies will also have the company’s participation. As the blog post also stated, “we believe a more open process, that is not dependent on a single vendor as platform lead, will encourage greater participation and innovation, and will be in best interests of the community.”
A recent article discussing the move pointed out those in the Java EE community had a growing concern that the Oracle was failing to properly care for the frame work. As such, they began suggesting the technology move away from Oracle to a foundation.
One of the most critical components of this argument are the increasing awareness of how important open source foundations is to the advancement of the technology as well as the public.
Open standards and open source, while different, still work towards similar goals of cooperation and empowerment across the Internet. As readers of this blog know, OpenStand Advocate at CISCO, David Ward, pointed out, “new Open Source Consortiums (OSS) are being started daily to expedite innovation, it’s important to acknowledge that the cycle time of an OSS and a Standards Development Organization (SDO) are fundamentally different.” But they can work to complement each other. moves like this one by Oracle are going to only serve to further the overall cause.
What do you think about this move by Oracle? Let us know in the comments below!