JDK 7 is Feature-Complete

[mark.reinhold at oracle.com]

> From: Steve Poole <spoole at linux.vnet.ibm.com>
> Date: Fri, 28 Jan 2011 09:38:57 +0000

> On Thu, 2011-01-27 at 13:32 -0800, mark.reinhold at oracle.com wrote:
>> More generally, I'm aware that the JDK 7 development process is not as
>> transparent as many people (me included) would like.  We'll do what we
>> can to address that, but in the near term we have to balance the cost
>> of such process changes against the goal of shipping JDK 7 this summer.
>> 
>> In the longer term I fully intend to make the various JDK 8 planning
>> and development activities much more transparent, from the beginning.
> 
> That's all really good news Mark - however I will still be a little
> critical. There is no need to make any process changes to increase
> transparency. Simply posting more about what you are doing and why
> you're doing it will be of great benefit.
> 
> So please, please,  do not wait a moment. Start now in simple ways.
> There is no need to be polished about the presentation.

Understood.  I have long given people exactly this advice, first at Sun
and now at Oracle.  We need to open the blinds before we open the doors.

I agree that process changes might not be critical at the very start.  At
a more fundamental level, however, what we're trying to do is change the
local culture.  Many of our pre-Sun colleagues here at Oracle are new to
the open-source way of doing things.  Changing habits is hard, and it's
especially hard in the face of the common misconceptions many people have
about open development.  So it will take some time, and in some cases the
most effective way to change the local culture will be to replace an old
process with a new one that's open by design.

> I'm going to do my bit to improve transparency and the openness of
> OpenJDK by continue to ask those what,where,why and how questions :-)

That's fine -- your questions are most welcome, and they help me make it
clear to others within Oracle exactly what it is that people outside the
company are expecting to see.

- Mark