I made it to my first 100 days at the Eclipse Foundation! New beginnings are always exciting. It has been a blast and a challenge at the same time. Many twists and turns, but steady progress nevertheless for both Jakarta EE and me!
My experience at the Eclipse Foundation started with EclipseCon France 2018 in the amazing Toulouse. Clearly, I was always a strong believer in open source as a movement, but meeting people from different companies, and witnessing their enthusiasm in person is something different. As the Eclipse Foundation hosts over 350 different open source projects, the conference attracted not only technology developers, but different industries using them as well. Their presence and interest demonstrated the importance of open source in software development. Jakarta EE, naturally, was one of the highlights of the conference, clearly indicating huge interest of the community in evolving Java EE technology and making it ready for cloud-native Java application development.
At the time, mid-June 2018, it was still very early days for us both. So early that it was hard to contemplate the concrete first steps for Jakarta EE. We hadn’t yet completed migrating the necessary Java EE contributions from Oracle to the Eclipse Foundation, and still struggling with all the legal aspects required in the process. We had initial conversations on the new Specification Process that will fill the role of the Java Community Process, and started looking into the new world with open source TCKs and requirements for the Jakarta EE implementations. And for me, getting familiar with the working group members and its committees, the community members, the existing Eclipse Foundation processes already in use, the processes that need to be defined, and figuring out what to focus on first was a challenge for sure!
Jumping to the fall, not everything is ready, but steady progress has been made. The majority of the Java EE code, including TCKs and GlassFish, found a new home at the Eclipse Foundation. New processes are being developed and the first drafts are ready for internal review. Name spaces are being discussed and even some specifications are being suggested as possible first components under the Jakarta EE specification umbrella. And yes, another Eclipse Foundation conference is just around the corner. EclipseCon Europe 2018 is being actively planned. If you haven’t already, please register! Jakarta EE and MicroProfile Community Day is taking shape and we need your presence and participation.
I am looking forward to finding out what the next 100 days will bring!