Patrick Curran

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. Over the past few months I've met with a broad cross-section of the Java developer community - individual developers, members of the open source community, Java User Groups (http://java.sun.com/community/usergroups/), and Java Champions (https://java-champions.dev.java.net/). While some of these developers belong to the JCP, many do not. This isn't necessarily a sign of failure. If we had 12,000 members rather than the 1,200 that... (more)

JSR Watch: JavaOne Wrap-up

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. JavaOne Wrap-up I won't spend a lot of time discussing the Jav... (more)

Java, Standards, and Free Software in Europe

In the May issue of JDJ, I wrote about Java and free software in Brazil. This month, after some recent visits to Europe (to Antwerp for JavaPolis late last year, to London for the QCon conference in March, and to Paris for a JCP Executive Committee meeting in May), it seems logical to follow up with an article about Java in Europe. Government, Open Source, and Open Standards 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. gover... (more)

JSR Watch: From the New Chair of the JCP

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. I've worked at Sun for more years than I can even remember and have spent the last six years leading the team that develops conformance test suites (Technology Compatibility K... (more)

JCP Elections: Time to Choose Your EC Representatives for 2008

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. (Sun nominates the candidates for these seats.) In November a second round of elections takes place for two elected seats on each EC. (All JCP members may nominate themselves for elected seats.) The ECs play a... (more)