Google cancels JavaOne participation

Google has announced that it will not be attending Oracle organised JavaOne conference because of the Oracle's lawsuit which claims Google has infringed patents and copyright in developing Android's Dalvik virtual machine. Joshua Bloch of Google's Open Source Programs Office said that "Oracle's recent lawsuit against Google and open source has made it impossible for us to freely share our thoughts about the future of Java and open source generally". Simon Phipps, former Sun Open Source officer, said on his blog that Google's decision is "going to be a big hole in the agenda since they employ all the good speakers… (well, most of them)".

The upcoming JavaOne, which runs from the 19th to the 23rd of September in San Francisco, is the first one to be held under Oracle who acquired Sun Microsystems and the Java technology earlier this year and Oracle's CEO, Larry Ellison, plans to give a keynote charting Oracle's plans for Java in the future. Google has attended and participated in JavaOne since 2004; the first JavaOne was held in 1996. Bloch said the company understands that the open source Java community will be disappointed and Google is looking to present at other venues and for "additional ways to engage and contribute".

(djwm)