The open-source community will be well represented within the Java Community Process after recent elections to the groups executive committees.
The Apache Software Foundation and the Eclipse Foundation were among the winners announced Nov. 13 by the JCP Program Management Office.
Along with the Apache and Eclipse foundations, winners were Google, Nortel Networks and Red Hat Middleware for the Java SE/EE Executive Committee, and Intel, Orange France, Research In Motion, Samsung Electronics and Time Warner Cable for the Java ME Executive Committee.
The JCP oversees the development and maintenance of the Java platform. Java SE is the Java Platform, Standard Edition; Java EE is the Java Platform, Enterprise Edition; and Java ME is the Java Platform, Micro Edition. The EC members guide the evolution of the Java technologies by voting on all technology proposals or Java Specification Requests.
The members also are responsible for defining the JCPs rules of governance and the legal agreement between members and the organization.
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The election win is a first-time JCP spot for the Eclipse Foundation. Eclipse is the leading Java development platform. Mike Milinkovich, executive director of Eclipse, told eWEEK the organization is looking forward to participating.
“The success of the Java community is very important to the long-term success of Eclipse,” said Milinkovich, who will be the foundations representative on the committee. “Therefore, I expect to be an active participant in ensuring the JCP moves towards a more open and collaborative environment for setting the future direction of Java.”
As a touch of irony, Eclipse, which now becomes a member of the JCP Executive Committee, has held open its doors for Sun Microsystems to join, but so far Sun has remained independent.
Apache has been a long-time member of the Java SE/EE executive committee, but committee members only get three-year terms and must run for re-election at the end of their terms.
Geir Magnusson Jr., an Apache representative to the JCP, told eWEEK that while the foundation is “frustrated at the lack of progress were making in resolving the JCK [Java Compatibility Kit] issue for Apache Harmony, we still hope that we can continue as an agent of change, working with other EC members to transform the JCP towards a true open standards body.”
The Apache Foundation has been at odds with Sun over access to the JCK for months. The JCK is needed by the Apache Harmony project to demonstrate its compatibility with the Java SE specification.