[jakarta.ee-community] Death of JavaOne/Consequences for Jakarta EE

[reza_rahman <reza_rahman@xxxxxxxxx>]

I hope by now everyone knows Oracle is killing off JavaOne as we know it and replacing it with something called Oracle Code One. However you slice and dice it, this is likely not good news for Java EE/Jakarta EE. I hope that we are not underestimating the consequences of this and can work together to offset the impact sensibly.

JavaOne was by far the premier destination for Java content both in terms of quality and quantity. The same was even more true for technologies like Java EE, NetBeans and many others. In the Java EE track, it gave us enough leeway to accept interesting Java EE adoption stories and talks on emerging but niche Java EE projects. Not to mention it was the place to go to in order to hear from the real workers behind Java EE specifications. Virtually every significant Java EE adopter I know went to JavaOne and every major Java EE advocate spoke there. I very much doubt any of this will remain true with Oracle Code One.

I am fearful those are such large gaps that will be left behind that places like Devoxx and EclipseCon will not be able to fill them that easily even if they wanted to. Some time ago someone joked about something like JakartaOne. That might be the best bet to offset basically losing what the Java EE track at JavaOne used to offer. The problem is that while this works for things like SpringOne, it will take a long time to build that kind of momentum and I am not sure Java EE can wait for that long or be able to withstand a significant lag in the conference space. While I have heard some hints that things like JavaLand can help solve this problem, I remain unconvinced these are any real competition to JavaOne, Devoxx, etc. These to me seem like smaller scale regional events that just don't have that kind of international clout and may never gain it, at least in the short run.

This brings me to my last point. I believe the best way to counteract the loss of JavaOne in the immediate term is to organize a free, virtual, community-run conference focused solely on Java EE/Jakarta EE. I ran a brief poll and it seems the idea is viable if it can be pulled off: https://twitter.com/reza_rahman/status/987789308374470656?s=19. Once something like JakartaOne establishes itself, we can discontinue the free online event or continue it on a more limited scale on purpose and favor/promote JakartaOne. Who knows - maybe online, free and community driven is in fact the future even for JakartaOne?

I believe if needed, the Java EE Guardians can pull this off with some cooperation from vendors. That's why I have the Java EE Guardians alias in BCC to this initial email.

Could you please share your thoughts on this? I would personally be particularly keen on hearing from people that are Java EE speakers, Java EE vendors and likely organizers of JakartaOne/EclipseCon as well as the online event I am suggesting.