Merged executive committee proposed for the JCP

The Java Community Process (JCP) standardisation body is taking the next step in its reorganisation. The recently proposed JSR 355 (JCP Executive Committee Merge) would combine the currently separate executive committees for Java SE/Java EE (Java Standard Edition/Java Enterprise Edition) and Java ME (Java Micro Edition) development. The reasoning behind this is that "Since Java is One Platform, it ought to be overseen by a single Executive Committee".

Along with Oracle, which is driving the specification, the groups listed in the new JSR include all the companies and organisations currently involved in Java SE/EE/ME standardisation, such as ARM, AT&T, Credit Suisse, Eclipse Foundation, Ericsson, Fujitsu, Goldman Sachs, Google, HP, IBM, Intel, London Java Community, Nokia, Red Hat, RIM, Samsung, SAP, Siemens, T-Mobile, Twitter and Vodafone.

Combining Java Standard and Enterprise development with Java Mobile development makes sense, since Oracle, which now holds the Java patents, plans to bring Java ME and Java SE more in line with each other. First steps include using the same version numbers – the next release will be called Java ME 7. In a second step, out of this will be developed Java SE 8 for Embedded, a kind of subset of Java SE targeted at the embedded space.

This Java Specification Request isn't the first recently to deal with restructuring the JCP. In October 2011, for example, the JCP approved JSR 348, which in part describes a transparent community process and is intended to remove earlier obstacles to participation in expert groups and committees.

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