The Future of Java?

This is a heavy topic for a Monday, but this article at TheServerSide.com really caught my attention. Joe Ottinger succinctly lays out the options for Java, and frankly, I’m concerned.

Mostly that I’m just now concerned. Well, I’ve known for some time that Java’s future may have been in doubt. IBM wanted to buy Sun (yay!). Then Oracle bought Sun (ooh, what does that mean for Java?). But I was a corporate employee for a long time, so I’m used to the there-are-big-changes-going-on-what-does-that-do-to-my-job sort of feeling in the pit of my stomach as I lie in bed at night.

So what is going to happen to Java? Joe says there are four options:

1. Keep it like it is (status quo)
2. Forking Java to create a new thing (though, isn’t there already Ruby? Python?)
3. Creating a truly independent consortium (yeah, right)
4. Abandon it

Honestly, I’m a status quo kind of guy, so I like that option. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned in IT, it’s that the status quo is change. Lots of change.

Does that hold true for Java? If so, what does its future hold?

I want to hear what you think.

–jsp