Sun kicks off Java Community Process Executive Committee election

Sun Microsystems took another step this week in opening up the Java Community Process (JCP) with its official launch of the JCP Executive Committee elections. For the next two months, members of the Java community will select developers and organizations to represent their interests on the JCP’s Standard/Enterprise and Micro Edition Executive Committees. Charged with directing Java’s future, these committees will choose and approve Java Specification Requests (JSR), evaluate Technology Compatibility Kit (TCK) appeals, and grant maintenance revisions to existing Java technologies.

The election kicked off September 29 with the posting of the ratification ballot by Sun’s Process Management Office (PMO). In this first phase of the election, Java developers will ratify 10 PMO-nominated seats for each committee. If voters fail to ratify any of the 10 nominees, the PMO will nominate additional candidates and post as many ratification ballots as needed to fill each committee’s 10 seats. Ratification selection began October 1 and continues through October 14.

The election process

Sun reasoned that having the PMO nominate the seats would help jump-start the election process. “It’s taking a while for people to get used to the fact that this is now an open process,” says Susan Roach, senior program manager of the JCP. “These 10 nominees [per committee] ensure that we have enough weight to keep the process moving. If we started with nothing, people might not understand what to do.”

Beyond the ratified seats, the Java community as a whole will have its chance to nominate members during the election’s second phase. From October 18 to October 31, the PMO will accept nominations for five elected seats per committee. Members of the JCP may nominate any other JCP member — including themselves — to serve on the committees. Once the candidates have been determined, the PMO will post the second election’s ballot on October 31, after which voters will select the elected seats from November 1 through November 14 (see the sidebar, “JCP Election Timeline“).

Sun advances the JCP

This election marks another milestone in Sun’s ongoing efforts to release Java technology development to the Java community at large. The campaign began in December 1998 when Sun first introduced the JCP, a formalized process for developing and revising JSRs. This past June at JavaOne, the JCP was updated to version 2.0, with enhancements including two Executive Committees (ECs) charged with guiding the evolution of Java technology. Sun appointed two interim committees to serve until formal elections were held. Most of the interim committee members appear on this year’s ratification ballot, including Apache, Apple, BEA, Caldera, Compaq, IBM, IONA, Nokia, Oracle, Palm, and Sony.

Serving on one of the Executive Committees involves two tasks. First, members review JSRs, which, as a sometimes daily responsibility, requires a significant time commitment. “My experience has been that it gives us a chance to discuss issues that previously would not have been brought up until later in the cycle,” says Sandy Rankin, IBM’s director of Java and emerging technology, who served on the Standard/Enterprise interim committee, also known as the Big Java/Little Java committee. “We get these issues out on the table early and address them quickly so that the expert group can be more productive. This has been a productive process.”

Second, EC members meet periodically to discuss issues concerning the JCP and the committee itself. Items up for discussion during the meetings this summer included providing better guidance to specification leads, intellectual property, and revising the Java Specification Participation Agreement (JSPA), which details JCP membership.

“We were able to talk about issues that perhaps, in a competitive environment, we wouldn’t normally talk about,” says Tony de la Lama, vice president and general manager of Inprise/Borland’s Java business unit. De la Lama is also a member of the Standard/Enterprise interim committee. “Since we all were really interested in moving Java forward, we were able to put our competitiveness aside to do what was best for the language and the platform. The spirit of cooperation was definitely alive at those meetings.”

Effective, but not open enough?

So is Sun’s setup working? “I think it’s more successful than its predecessor, for sure,” says IBM’s Rankin. “Have we reached perfection yet? No. I would say it’s a more successful model. It’s not the ideal successful model yet.”

In developing this particular model for the ECs, Sun received feedback from members of other standards bodies. The company incorporated the best features of those organizations and molded them to fit Java’s testing and compatibility requirements.

“It’s a terrific model, given the circumstances that Sun is the purveyor of Java,” says de la Lama. “If Java was invented by another company, maybe we wouldn’t have this community voice in the Java standards process.”

Although Sun has taken great strides to open up the specification process, it will not relinquish its control. In addition to the permanent seat held by Sun on each committee, a member of the PMO — albeit a nonvoting member — chairs each committee. One could also argue that, through the PMO, Sun basically picks the ratification ballot. Many in the industry have criticized Sun about its “open” process. One critic that has made no secret about its qualms with the JCP is IBM.

“We would still like to find a way to have a nonprofit organization end up in the stewardship role,” says Rankin, speaking on behalf of IBM. “We think it would alleviate some issues.” Rankin cites intellectual property as one of these prickly concerns. As most standards organizations have ironed out the wrinkles surrounding intellectual property, industry players already know what to expect from these groups and can easily decide their level of involvement. As of yet, the ECs have not cleared up the fuzziness surrounding intellectual property in the JCP.

“This becomes problematic when the companies involved are competitors with one another and the hosting company,” says Rankin. “It creates problems that you don’t run into, or at least you run into differently, when the process is overseen by a nonprofit organization. That said, we’re happy to participate in the process as it’s currently defined and try to work through those issues within the confines of the current structure.”

As for Inprise/Borland’s opinion, “From the 10,000-foot view, perhaps some say the JCP is not truly open, because you have only so many companies sitting on the committee,” says de la Lama. “Some might say it’s not truly representative of the general community at large. But I think it is. I do think we have a strong advocacy for the Java platform.”

Sun welcomes these varying opinions, and expects them only to fuel the future of Java. “Is everything going to be smooth sailing?” asks Sun’s Roach. “No. But that’s not the point. We do want the discussions; we do want the different ideas. We’re not going to solve the problems that we’re facing unless people from different sides are contributing to the discussion.”

But wouldn’t these discussions and negotiations slow the approval process? Many worry that the executive committees will delay specifications as they debate over issues. Some also wonder whether company politics hovering over these meetings would just encourage further debates and more delays. Both Rankin and de la Lama indicate that, so far, this has not been the case.

“If anything, [these discussions] are helping,” says Rankin. “We have dialogues up front on issues that would have lingered before.”

The nominees — who will get the nod?

Seeking to collect a diverse group of ratified nominations that would adequately represent a cross section of the Java community, the PMO considered the companies’ geographic and market diversities, as well as their commitment to Java. “The ratification ballot is reasonably representative of those who are active in the process,” says IBM’s Rankin. “I’m pleased to see seats from large companies and some Web application services, of which there are several, not just one or two.” She believes that the ballot makes sense and that those nominated have all contributed significantly to Java. The ratification nominees are:

Standard/Enterprise Executive Committee Ratification Ballot:

1. Apache
2. Apple
3. BEA
4. Caldera
5. Compaq
6. Fujitsu
7. HP
8. IBM
9. Inprise/Borland
10. Oracle

Micro Edition Executive Committee Ratification Ballot:

1. IBM
2. Insignia
3. Matsushita
4. Motorola
5. Nokia
6. Palm
7. RIM
8. Philips
9. Siemens
10. Sony

All nominees must be registered members of the JCP. This stipulation explains why Microsoft is absent from the ratification ballot. “As of yet, Microsoft hasn’t signed up to be a member,” says Roach. “I would have a party the day that I receive a JSPA from them in my mailbox.”

Voting requirements

In order to vote, developers and organizations also must be registered members of the JCP. Any Java developer can register; membership entails signing the JSPA. Although the voting eligibility deadline has passed for participation in the ratification process, if registered with the JCP by October 27, developers can still vote on the elected seats.

To cast their ballots, JCP members receive a PIN number through surface mail that they will use to log in to the election site, hosted by PricewaterhouseCoopers (for details, go to the PricewaterhouseCoopers link in Resources). A simple click in a yes or no box completes the ratification process. Those nominees receiving a majority yes vote will be ratified.

Sun hopes for high participation from the JCP membership, made up of about 300 Java developers and organizations. “Most participants in the JCP also have a stake in a specification that is out there,” says Roach. “I think they’re going to be quite interested in taking part in the elections and voting for the people that will be overseeing their projects.”

Though voters will be selecting companies rather than individuals in the ratification process, Rankin stresses that the members see themselves not as representatives of their respective companies, but as representatives of all Java developers. It’s important to note that the JCP does not exclude individual developers from serving on the EC. If a developer has registered as an individual member of the JCP, he or she could be elected (if nominated, of course).

On December 12, the elected committees will officially take their seats. Each member will serve a three-year term. As Sun wants to hold elections every year, the terms will be staggered so that 5 of the 15 seats are normally up for ratification or election each year. This year, the members will draw lots to decide who will serve three years, two years, and one year. Members can serve more than one term.

“I think we’re off to a reasonably good start,” says Rankin about the JCP. “I think we’re still working on figuring out how we can most effectively move Java technology forward. It’s definitely a step in the right direction.”

Source: www.infoworld.com