Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2010/11/19/java_roadmap_dates/

Oracle names date for next Java

(Nearly) nothing can stop us

By Gavin Clarke

Posted in Software, 19th November 2010 20:54 GMT

Oracle has set a date for the completion of the next version of Java, hard on the heels of submitting its plan to Java's governing body for approval.

The database giant has given July 28, 2011 as the date for when the Java Development Kit (JDK) 7 will be released to general availability. Previously, Oracle's had set "mid" 2011 as part of the roadmap it outlined at its annual OpenWorld conference in September.

The next, immediate milestone for JDK 7 will be December 16, 2010. That's when Oracle's engineers have committed to have the development kit feature complete. You can read more here.

Oracle is confident it can hit the dates as it has split the JDK into two pieces, under what Mark Reinhold, chief architect of Oracle's Java platform group, has called Plan B.

This plan will see JDK 8 follow on in late 2012, according to the roadmap outlined in September. This will feature the Lambda and Jigsaw projects ant parts of the Coin project not implemented in JDK 7

But one other factor could see Oracle miss the dates. If members of the Java Community Process (JCP) follow the advice of the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) and vote against the Java Specification Requests (JSRs) for Java 7 and Java 8 Oracle submitted this week. ASF has asked JCPers to vote against these unless Oracle lives up to its obligations and grants Apache's Project Harmony a license to use the TCK.

Results from the vote on Oracle's JSRs are due in the next two weeks. ®