Oracle Wave’s Good-Bye To Java Enterprise Edition, As The
Eclipse Foundation Takes Over Java EE Under A New Name, Jakarta, And Without
the "Java" Trademark.
Do You Remember When Oracle Sun Bought? The only thing that seemed useful to this agreement was the acquisition of Java by Oracle. Almost 10 years later, Oracle released Java Enterprise Edition (JEE), also known as J2EE, and started to run the popular Java enterprise middleware platform for the Eclipse Foundation. Now, under the auspices of the Eclipse Foundation, JEE has been renamed to Jakarta EE.
Why? Because Oracle has never succeeded in generating revenue with Java. Largely this was due to Sun and then to the failed attempts by Oracle to run the Java community.
As David Delabassee, an Oracle server-side Java evangelist, admitted in August 2017: "We believe that moving Java EE technologies, including reference implementations and the test compatibility kit to an open-source database, can be the next step are entitled to adopt more streamlined processes, introduce more flexible licenses and change the governance process. "
The open source model proved to be more successful than a community model led by the company. This is not surprising for anyone who follows Java business servers.
As observed by Plumbr, a Java server performance analytics company, the Apache Tomcat JavaServer Pages (JSP) open source engine has been the most popular JSP server for the last five years. Oracle WebLogic? It reached the end in the 2017 survey, with 4.5 percent of users.
If Jakarta is familiar, it's because the name is not applied to a JEE server for the first time. From 1999 to 2011, the Apache Software Foundation operated Apache Jakarta, which covered all of Apache's open source Java activities.
So, why is this whole name jumping? Because Oracle, even if the Eclipse Foundation owned the intellectual property of JEE, refused to give it the brand name Eclipse. Do not ask me why.
The Java EE Guardians, a group of Java experts, including Java developer James Gosling, have asked Oracle to at least allow the Foundation to use the "Java EE" and Javax JEE packages. Finally, they argued:
- Java EE continues to be a strong brand with developers. In the industry survey survey, developers point out that they value Java EE.
- While no name is perfect, Java EE is a very appropriate name for the platform. This became particularly clear as the community repeatedly struggled to find a new meaningful name.
- The change in the name of the J2EE platform in Java EE is causing continued confusion in the market, even more than a decade after the name change. A new name change for the platform is likely to only add to the confusion. This includes the presence of generalized resources related to the Java EE name and the Javax packages. It will not be clear for a long time how these resources relate to a reputed platform.
- Java EE must and is seen as an integral part of the official open Java standard platform. This distinction is important and of great value to users, employees, implementers, and supporters of Java EE. Any new name that does not catch Java will reduce that value. The problem applies even more to a packaging scheme other than "javax".
- A new platform, where a substantial part of the API belongs to the "javax" package, while another important part of the API belongs to another package, is confusing and inelegant.
- Stability, backward compatibility, and continuity are key features that Java EE users have long cherished. It can be seen that a forced change of brand undermines these valuable qualities.
Will Lyons, Senior Director of Product Management for Oracle WebLogic, responded that "we continue to reserve the use of these names by identifying the Java brand with the basic function of identifying sources". Lyons also emphasized that Oracle Eclipse has given the "GlassFish Java EE 8 Reference Implementation Sources".
Nevertheless, Oracle remained deaf to the requests of the guards. As long as the JEE soldiers continue, they will do so under the burden of a new name. This can not help confuse more Java EE customers - sorry, Jakarta EE -.