"It's Solaris I'm really fearful for" is what James Gosling asserts in his latest blog entry. But the entry is more about the Java Community Process (JCP) and its future under Oracle's hands.
The discussion is interesting, because the problems with JCP were often a topic of conversation for James before he left Oracle, including a little discussion of the topic in last years keynote address at TheServerSide's Java Symposium. But will things improve for the Java Community Process in the foreseeable future? And will Oracle's past commitments and resolutions with regards to the JCP be honoured?
"Now that they (Oracle) have a different point of view, it's clear that this resolution being honored is about as likely as pigs growing wings."
There's no doubt that there are things that are wrong with JCP, and who knows, maybe a little bit of benevolent control of the process might be the shot in the arm that it needs. Perhaps the question is about who the benevolent one would be.
But what about the future of Java? James isn't quite as concerned. "Java is likely to be in pretty safe shape. It's a key piece of technology in too many of Oracle's businesses, so screwing Java up too badly would hurt them more than almost anyone else. "
You can read the full blog entry here: Cynical Chuckles