Java EE 7 Specification Wins Governing Board Approval
The relatively smooth sailing for the Java EE standard is in contrast to a dustup late last year when the Apache Software Foundation quit the governing board in protest over friction with Oracle, which acquired the Java technology last year when it bought Sun Microsystems.
The Java EE 7 Platform "specification request," the formal documents that describe proposed specifications and technology for adding to the Java platform, has been unanimously approved by the Java Community Process (JCP) executive committee, Oracle said in a statement Monday. Executive committee members include Oracle, Google, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Intel, SAP and VMware.
The Java EE 7 specification will continue to progress through the JCP, Oracle said.
Java EE is a key element within application server products such as IBMs WebSphere, Oracle's WebLogic and Red Hat's JBoss.
IBM did add a note of caution along with its vote, saying it supports licensing models that allow third parties to create independent Java implementations and don't allow any one company to exercise control over standards "for proprietary advantage."
In December the Apache Software Foundation, which held a seat on the JCP executive committee, quit that post over what it said was Oracle's refusal to provide a technology compatibility kit license for upcoming releases of Java Standard Edition for Apache's "Harmony" open-source version of Java.
That came as the JCP executive committee approved technology roadmaps for Java SE7 and Java SE 8, due this year and in late 2012, respectively. But the Apache Software Foundation, joined by Google, voted against approving those roadmaps and accused Oracle of dominating the governing body.
Oracle has since tried without success to get the Apache Software Foundation to return to the committee.
Oracle also isn't on the best of terms with Google, when it comes to Java, after Oracle sued Google in August claiming that the Google Android mobile operating system violates Java patents and copyrights.
And Monday James Gosling, the man considered the father of Java who left Oracle last April shortly after the Sun acquisition, disclosed that he is going to work for Google.