I'd like to thank all of you who have provided feedback on this topic.
We have given it careful consideration.
In order to expand the number of our data points, we also polled
developers at JavaOne. The overwhelming consensus was that it was
indeed time to move our CORBA and IIOP interoperability requirements
to Proposed Optional status.
At this point, I think it is time to close this issue out.
For those of you who expressed concerns here, I'll reiterate that this
is "only" a move to *Proposed* Optional status. According to the
process we are following, the decision to make these features Optional
(as opposed to Proposed Optional) can only be made by the Java EE 9
(or later) Expert Group and therefore cannot realistically go into
effect before 2020, at the earliest. I'll also note again that
vendors are always permitted to provide features that have been moved
to Optional status, and that the RI, as such, needs to continue to
implement all such Optional technology.
I think that it is important that we continue to make it clear to the
community that we are serious about taking advantage of opportunities
for simplification of the platform, and hence for the pruning of
technologies that are no longer of interest to the majority of
developers.
I plan to fold these changes into the next specification draft.
-Linda