Enhanced Java Community Process 2.7 – JCP Award Nominees Announced

The future of the Java Community Process (JCP) has been a topic for debate and discussion, especially post the Oracle acquisition of Sun. Most Java enthusiasts are closely following how Oracle’s handling Java’s community and open source processes. With this backdrop, the Java Community Process has announced the release of JCP program version 2.7. JCP program 2.7 enhancements claim to provide greater openness and transparency, as well as more agility in the JCP program process of JSR development.

The spec lead for this program is Patrick Curran, JCP Program Chair, who worked closely with the EC as the Expert Group on these enhancements. In addition, the JCP Program PMO and the EC today revealed the nominees for the 2009 JCP Program Annual Awards, recognizing excellence in Java platform standards development and innovation. The nominees are:

1. JCP Program Member of The Year: Apache Software Foundation, Sean Sheedy, Ericsson and Innovation Emergency Management (IEM)
2. JCP Program Participant of the Year: Doug Lea, Patrick Curran, Enrique Ortiz and Terrence Barr
3. Outstanding Java Platform, Standard Edition (Java SE Platform) / Java Platform, Enterprise Edition (Java EE Platform) Spec Lead: Ronald Togel, JSR 321; Ed Burns, JSR 314; and David Nuescheler, JSR 283
4. Outstanding Java Platform, Micro Edition (Java ME Platform) Spec Lead: Mike Milikich, JSR 271; Kay Glahn and Erkki Rysa, JSR 249; and Piotr Kessler and Stefan Svenberg, JSR 281
5. Most Innovative Java SE Platform or Java EE Platform JSR: JSR 310, Date and Time API; JSR 301, Portlet Bridge Specification for JavaServer(TM) Faces Technology; and JSR 316, Java EE 6 platform
6. Most Innovative Java ME Platform JSR: JSR 271, Mobile Information Device Profile (MIDP) 3.0; JSR 327, Dynamic Contents Delivery Service Application Program Interfaces (API) for Java ME platform; and JSR 325, IP Multimedia Subsystem Communication Enablers (ICE)

The JCP Program exceeds 1,400 members including corporate, academic and government institutions, not-for-profit entities and individual developers. Currently, 329 JSRs have been started and five new JSRs were initiated in the past year, all led by more than 90 different organizations, including open source communities and individuals. More than 30 percent of the submitted JSRs have been completed. In addition, in 2009, more than 15 Java User Groups (JUG) joined the JCP program.

Since its launch in 1998 as the process to develop and revise Java technology specifications, reference implementations, and technology compatibility kits, the Java Community Process program has fostered the evolution of the Java platform in cooperation with the international Java platform developer community. Having recently celebrated its 10th anniversary, the JCP program now has over 1,400 corporate and individual participants. More than 300 Java technology specifications are in development in the JCP program, 55 percent of which are in the final stages.