What If Oracle OpenWorld Did Swallow JavaOne?
At the opening keynote of this week's Oracle OpenWorld Conference, Sun Chairman and Co-founder Scott McNealy called the father of Java, James Gosling, on stage to again reiterate Oracle's dedication to Java. When McNealy asked whether Oracle is good for Java, Gosling recalled the old joke about ham and eggs: The chicken is involved, but the pig is committed. In Gosling's characterization, Oracle--with its JSR leadership and Java-based product lines--is much more ham than eggs when it comes to Java.
But we know that already. The really interesting part of McNealy and Gosling's exchange came at the end, when McNealy voiced his doubts that the Moscone Center where the conference is being held was big enough to hold OpenWorld and JavaOne simultaneously. Some in the Java community have speculated that the 2009 JavaOne Conference this past June would be the last. The rumors have Oracle killing the show and holding some scaled down version of it during OpenWorld. What would that look like?
The largest convention center in downtown San Francisco has three halls, Moscone North, South, and West. Oracle needs all three, plus rooms at an off-site Hilton, to accommodate the 40,000+ attendees. Not to mention that Oracle blocks off the street between the facing Moscone North and South halls, lays carpet down on the street, and erects tents above it (129,000 square feet of tenting, that is). It's a huge production. How Oracle would host another 15,000 people (the reported attendance at JavaOne 2009) is a logistical challenge I'm glad I don't have to face.
There probably wouldn't be much overlap in attendees who go to both shows either. Fundamentally, the conferences speak to different audiences: OpenWorld is an enterprise IT show for executives, while JavaOne is a developer show for Java programmers. Just observing the unwritten dress code at each one makes the difference obvious. Casual attire at OpenWorld is khakis and a button-down shirt with your company's logo embroidered on the breast pocket. That same outfit at JavaOne would be formal (What's with the khakis?).
Beyond the issues of sufficient space and differing styles is that of content. OpenWorld actually already offers content for Java developers. Oracle Develop is OpenWorld's three-day program dedicated to developer topics, and it held a number Sun-hosted sessions that were JavaOne-esque, including overviews and updates of JPA 2.0, EJB 3.1, Java SE, Java EE 6 and GlassFish, JavaServer Faces 2.0, and JavaFX. However, Sun is hosting only 10 out of a total of 217 Oracle Develop sessions--a fraction of the content JavaOne offers. Oracle would need to scale the number of sessions up significantly and find the room to host them.
Where Oracle Develop takes place also speaks volumes about the focus of OpenWorld. To get to Oracle Develop from the main show, you have to walk to a hotel about 10-15 minutes away. Shuffling off to the Hilton felt a little like being invited to a fancy dinner party and then been relegated to a wobbly ironing board in the den for your meal while the "grown-ups" (the IT executives) eat at the dining room table.
For Java developers, that feeling of being second-class citizens would be an unavoidable consequence if the shows merged. As the steward of Java, Sun constantly interacts with the Java community to help shape and plan JavaOne. During Goslings conversation with McNealy at the opening keynote, he confessed that Oracle was "a little unprepared for the volume of the Java community." Sun's developer programs, according to Gosling, are much larger in terms of downloads and interactions than those Oracle currently offers.
The developers who are downloading bits from the many java.sun.com projects, reading Sun distinguished engineer blogs, reporting bugs, and otherwise getting involved in the development of the Java platform make for an enthusiastic audience when Sun puts on a show just for them. (You won't hear the Brazilian contingent whoop and holler every time their country's mentioned here at OpenWorld, but you can count on it at JavaOne--and more than one keynote presenter has when his presentation starts to lose some steam.)
A backlash from developers who fear being marginalized in a merged OpenWorld/JavaOne likely won't be enough to save JavaOne if Oracle decides to end it; OpenWorld has swolled other conferences (PeopleSoft Connect and BEAWorld are just two). However, the audiences for the other shows it consumed have been more aligned with the IT executives who attend OpenWorld. With the logistical challenges and divergent audience, OpenWorld might choke if it tries to swallow JavaOne.
But we know that already. The really interesting part of McNealy and Gosling's exchange came at the end, when McNealy voiced his doubts that the Moscone Center where the conference is being held was big enough to hold OpenWorld and JavaOne simultaneously. Some in the Java community have speculated that the 2009 JavaOne Conference this past June would be the last. The rumors have Oracle killing the show and holding some scaled down version of it during OpenWorld. What would that look like?
The largest convention center in downtown San Francisco has three halls, Moscone North, South, and West. Oracle needs all three, plus rooms at an off-site Hilton, to accommodate the 40,000+ attendees. Not to mention that Oracle blocks off the street between the facing Moscone North and South halls, lays carpet down on the street, and erects tents above it (129,000 square feet of tenting, that is). It's a huge production. How Oracle would host another 15,000 people (the reported attendance at JavaOne 2009) is a logistical challenge I'm glad I don't have to face.
There probably wouldn't be much overlap in attendees who go to both shows either. Fundamentally, the conferences speak to different audiences: OpenWorld is an enterprise IT show for executives, while JavaOne is a developer show for Java programmers. Just observing the unwritten dress code at each one makes the difference obvious. Casual attire at OpenWorld is khakis and a button-down shirt with your company's logo embroidered on the breast pocket. That same outfit at JavaOne would be formal (What's with the khakis?).
Beyond the issues of sufficient space and differing styles is that of content. OpenWorld actually already offers content for Java developers. Oracle Develop is OpenWorld's three-day program dedicated to developer topics, and it held a number Sun-hosted sessions that were JavaOne-esque, including overviews and updates of JPA 2.0, EJB 3.1, Java SE, Java EE 6 and GlassFish, JavaServer Faces 2.0, and JavaFX. However, Sun is hosting only 10 out of a total of 217 Oracle Develop sessions--a fraction of the content JavaOne offers. Oracle would need to scale the number of sessions up significantly and find the room to host them.
Where Oracle Develop takes place also speaks volumes about the focus of OpenWorld. To get to Oracle Develop from the main show, you have to walk to a hotel about 10-15 minutes away. Shuffling off to the Hilton felt a little like being invited to a fancy dinner party and then been relegated to a wobbly ironing board in the den for your meal while the "grown-ups" (the IT executives) eat at the dining room table.
For Java developers, that feeling of being second-class citizens would be an unavoidable consequence if the shows merged. As the steward of Java, Sun constantly interacts with the Java community to help shape and plan JavaOne. During Goslings conversation with McNealy at the opening keynote, he confessed that Oracle was "a little unprepared for the volume of the Java community." Sun's developer programs, according to Gosling, are much larger in terms of downloads and interactions than those Oracle currently offers.
The developers who are downloading bits from the many java.sun.com projects, reading Sun distinguished engineer blogs, reporting bugs, and otherwise getting involved in the development of the Java platform make for an enthusiastic audience when Sun puts on a show just for them. (You won't hear the Brazilian contingent whoop and holler every time their country's mentioned here at OpenWorld, but you can count on it at JavaOne--and more than one keynote presenter has when his presentation starts to lose some steam.)
A backlash from developers who fear being marginalized in a merged OpenWorld/JavaOne likely won't be enough to save JavaOne if Oracle decides to end it; OpenWorld has swolled other conferences (PeopleSoft Connect and BEAWorld are just two). However, the audiences for the other shows it consumed have been more aligned with the IT executives who attend OpenWorld. With the logistical challenges and divergent audience, OpenWorld might choke if it tries to swallow JavaOne.
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