Now that Oracle wants to turn over leadership of enterprise Java’s (Java EE’s) development to a still-unnamed open source foundation, might the same thing happen with the standard edition of Java (Java SE) that Oracle also controls? Such a move could produce substantial benefits. But it does not seem unlikely, at least at the moment.
Oracle said it has no plans to make such a move. But the potential fruits of a such a move are undeniable.
For one, a loosening of Oracle’s control could entice other contributors to Java to participate more. Java development has had other participants, including IBM, Red Hat, and SAP. But with the current Oracle-dominated setup, other companies and individuals could be reluctant to contribute a lot if they see it as benefiting a major software industry provider—and possible rival—like Oracle.
