Java PDF blog

We always felt that things needed to change in the Java world so have been keenly waiting to see what Oracle would do with Java...

Well we got our first clues, last week with a letter from Oracle. Sent by express Fedex from California, the good news is that Oracle clearly has money to spend. The letter was a legal notice terminating a minor agreement we had with Sun relating to its marketing scheme. I can't even remember what it was. Oracle clearly has some plan, because it looks like it is clearing the decks and if it is  cancelling all previous agreements. So something is going on. It is also very good news for Fedex and its shareholders! 

What makes me really sad though is the wasted opportunity. By all means, make sure you tie up any loose ends in a legal and water-tight way. But what makes Java superior to DotNet (in my opinion), is the thriving ecosystem that Java has. From the Eclipse Organisiation to the smallest developer, there are lots of really creative things happening in Java. Oracle could have used this as a chance to also communicate with all of these developers (and potential clients of Oracle) or at least included a note to say "Sorry guys, but we need the legal stuff as we have to cover all the legal issues". A legal-sounding letter from Oracle is a scary thing for any developer... 

There already seems to be a bit of a lull in the Java world as everyone waits to see what Oracle does. And Oracle has paid a lot of money for Java, so it really cannot be in its interests to see it decline. So I really hope we see something with more vision and less legalise coming out of Oracle.