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Sun Moves To Open Up, Streamline Java Process


By Yvonne L. Lee
June 15, 2003 — 
Sun Microsystems Inc. has proposed changes to the Java Community Process that would streamline the process while also making it more open and vendor-neutral.

Under the proposed revisions, called JCP 2.6, a period in the review process that had been for member-only review would now be opened up for public review. Further, the executive committee balloting that happened in the middle of the process would now happen at its conclusion. JCP 2.6 is itself going through the community review process as Java Specification Request 215, which is scheduled for a final draft in October and final approval in November.

The proposed changes in JCP 2.6 are the second revision to the process in eight months.

"It gives you a more transparent and open process because it makes all the review phases visible to the general public, it brings JSRs on average quicker, and community members have more visibility into the activity of the JSRs and expert groups," claimed Onno Kluyt, director of the JCP program management office.

The benefit of moving the public comment and review to earlier in the process, according to Kluyt, is that those supporting a specific JSR can ask questions freely without worrying about an intermediate executive committee ballot that could put the kibosh on the whole effort.

Traditionally, Sun has been criticized most vociferously by IBM and HP for having too strong a role in controlling the Java specifications, but those feelings aren't universal, as other JCP (www.jcp.org) members argue that the community review works well.

"I do believe it's Sun's puppy, but you need a big vendor to give it credibility," said Dirk Bartels, CEO of JDO Central, and a co-founder of Poet Software.

"The standards body, the community, needs to agree with the changes that Sun needs to make or another community member like IBM or Oracle needs to make [in a proposed specification]," said Kluyt.

To wit, the executive committee rejected four specifications that Sun initiated concerning Java 2 Micro Edition (J2ME)-JSRs 216 through 219 (See "CDC 1.1 Skips a Beat," page 19).

"The process doesn't let [Sun] push something out over everybody," said Tim Sloane, director of Internet infrastructure research at Aberdeen Group in Boston, "but it does allow them to say 'OK, we're putting it to a vote now, and we're not letting any more features be put into it.'" In this way, Sun can control the pace at which changes are adopted, but it cannot unilaterally choose whether or not specific changes are brought to the table.

Critic Supports Changes

Although IBM is not the spec lead for JSR-215, it said in a prepared statement that it "had a key role in the development of the most recent updates to the Java Community Process." The company went on to say that it would like to see greater community perspective in the evolution of Java.

"The more that Java technology is associated with a coordinated, strong, industrywide effort rather a single company, the faster we'll see Java technologies being adopted by enterprises," the statement said. IBM declined to reveal its own suggestions for changing the Java Community Process.

However, the flip side to more participation may be that it takes longer for specifications to get introduced, discussed, reviewed and approved, said Sloane. "Openness not only controls how many people participate, but how long it takes to get a standard ratified.

Now, we've [hypothetically] got 200,000 participants-try to get that through a voting process, especially if you've got Microsoft breathing down your back," said Sloane. "Even IBM would agree that it's important that the process move briskly in order for the standard to move forward."


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