As many of you have read in the press [1], Oracle is reevaluating the
scope and plans for Java EE 8. Based on the changes we've seen in the
industry in recent years, we believe we need to do more to Java EE to
make it better suited for developing the next generation of cloud
and microservices applications.
The current generation of enterprise Java applications is already well
supported by Java EE 7 in cloud services provided by Oracle and
others. As Anil Gaur said in his recent presentation to the JCP EC [2]:
We would like the future of Java EE to be viable to next generation
of applications. These apps are composed and deployed differently
in cloud and require flexibility, reliability and scale. The
platform needs a new programming model that's geared towards
reactive style programming for building large-scale distributed
applications that are loosely coupled. In addition, we would like
to see HTTP/2, Config, State management, Eventual Consistency,
Multi-tenancy, O-Auth and OpenID Connect get included in the
platform.
It is critical that Java EE reflect the needs of the community. We are
preparing another community survey, similar to the survey we did in
2014 [3], to assess whether the community shares our views about
what's needed in Java EE. We expect this survey to be available in
the next few weeks. We'll also be looking at the results of other
surveys and community input, and will be continuing our discussions
with Java EE licensees. At JavaOne we'll be presenting our proposals
for updates to Java EE and gathering feedback from attendees.
After considering the results of our survey and other feedback, we'll
adjust the plans for Java EE 8, with a goal of delivering Java EE 8
within a year. Much of the initially planned work is nearly complete
or well on its way, but new work will need to be done more quickly than
usual. Obviously all desired work will not be able to be done in Java
EE 8 and some planned work may no longer be important.
This short schedule for Java EE 8 will allow us to move quickly into
planning for Java EE 9, which will be able to take advantage of the
Java SE 9 Jigsaw module system, and will give us more time for some of
the larger improvements to the Java EE programming model.
Stay tuned for more information about our community survey, and join us
at JavaOne to hear more about our proposals for Java EE.
Your opinion is valuable to us and we look forward to collaborating with you.
[1]
http://www.infoworld.com/article/3098007/java/oracle-to-reboot-java-ee-for-the-cloud.html
[2]
https://jcp.org/aboutJava/communityprocess/ec-public/materials/2016-08-09/August-2016-Public-Minutes.html
[3]
https://blogs.oracle.com/ldemichiel/