Doug Lea, professor at State University of New York Oswego comments, "I'm pleased that open processes like those used already in a few JSRs will now become the expected way for JCP specification efforts to proceed. We found in JSR 166 that opening up channels for involvement by interested developers improves specifications, tests, and implementations. It's also more productive and pleasant. Expert groups can accept good ideas and critiques early enough to make a difference, and can produce final deliverables with more confidence that they will be widely accepted and used."

"The changes found in JCP 2.6 represent another step forward by the Executive Committee and PMO to move the JCP to a more open and collaborative specification process," said Geir Magnusson Jr, VP of Java Community Process, Apache Software Foundation. "This JSR builds on the progress of JCP 2.5 in two ways. The first is the encouragement of transparency in the activities of expert groups, a proven aspect of successful collaborative development. The second is a process change to provide a preliminary version of the spec to the developer community early in the specification process. Through this, the community can help shape the specification with early feedback, and the expert groups can act on this feedback before too much work is complete. We think that these two changes alone will help the Java developer community build better and more widely adopted technology specifications."

"JPC 2.6, the next step in the continuing evolution of the Java Community Process, further opens JCP processes and reaches out to Java developers beyond current JCP members," said Don Deutsch, vice president of standards, strategy and architecture at Oracle Corporation. "JCP 2.6 strengthens the link between Java platform development and the international Java developer community."

"We have built the BlackBerry wireless platform on open industry standards like Java technology and are pleased that the JCP is continuing to evolve its standards definition process," said David Yach, Vice President, Software at Research In Motion (RIM). "JCP 2.6 is helping to fuel the proliferation of Java technology and create an even more robust process by encouraging developers to become involved early on."

"Harnessing innovation is essential to Symbian and other companies in the dynamic mobile phone market: JCP 2.6 will help the creation and delivery of innovative Java technology to this market," said Jonathan Allin, Product Manager for Java, Symbian. "The more open access provided by JCP 2.6 will make it simpler for Java expert groups to utilize the talent of the smaller companies and individuals who fuel the growth of the wireless Java market, and will make it simpler for the expert groups to interwork with other organizations who provide complementary standards. In turn, earlier visibility of business terms and specifications will enable implementers to better plan the introduction of new JSRs. This latest release of the Java Community Process is an important step towards a truly inclusive community that will further the development and deployment of Java technology."

For a complete listing of the JSR 215 EG members please visit http://jcp.org/en/jsr/detail?id=215

For More Information

Press Release:
http://www.sun.com/smi/Press/sunflash/2004-03/sunflash.20040309.1.html

Whitepaper:
http://jcp.org/content/main/files/whitepaper.JCP26Whitepaper.pdf

JCP 2.6 document:
http://jcp.org/en/procedures/jcp2

JCP 2.6 FAQ:
http://jcp.org/en/press/news/215QA

JCP General Overview:
http://jcp.org/aboutJava/communityprocess/JCPGeneralOverview.pdf

JSPA2:
http://jcp.org/en/participation/membership