This is a big year for Java for a lot of reasons that I’ll be blogging about here on DevX, in the lead up to the event which runs October 2nd to the 6th.
One of the big disappointments for me personally about JavaOne in 2010 was the fact that Google wasn’t there. Google has a lot to add to the Java community but thanks to some legal issues with Oracle, Google is likely to be avoiding Oracle related events for some time to come. As a side effect of that, I had assumed that James Gosling, the founder of Java, would not be able to make an appearance at JavaOne in 2011.
Gosling had been a Google employee, but that changed this week as he took a new job at startup called Liquid Robotics. So any Google prohibition against Google employees going to JavaOne no longer applies to Gosling.
That said, whether or not Gosling shows up at JavaOne doesn’t really matter all that much, does it?
While the ‘cult of the founder’ mentality is not likely to ever die away in tech circles, Gosling at this point doesn’t direct the future of Java. In comparison to say a Linus Torvalds, who founded Linux 20 years ago and still is the person that actually issues releases, Gosling has been somewhat removed from the Java release process for some time.
Certainly, Gosling’s views on Java, its history and its potential future are topics that are important. The fact that he’s working for a robotics startup says something about that too. Gosling didn’t go to Liquid Robotics to work on robots, he likely went there to work on the embedded control systems and associated monitoring and tracking that I’d bet are all Java based.
The days of Gosling giving big keynotes at JavaOne are a few years in the past at this point, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he makes an appearance (of some sort) this year.
The future of Java that we’ll be hearing about at JavaOne 2011 is just that, the future. With Java 7 now out and work progressing on Java 8 there certainly is lots to talk and learn about too.
JavaOne 2011 runs October 2 through 6 in San Francisco.
Charlie has over a decade of experience in website administration and technology management. As the site admin, he oversees all technical aspects of running a high-traffic online platform, ensuring optimal performance, security, and user experience.
