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Java 9 delayed until Thursday March 23rd, 2017, just after tea-time

Oracle gives itself six more months to get the job done right

Oracle has delayed the release of Java 9 by six months.

We've been watching the date since we reported on Java 9's new naming scheme a couple of weeks back and named September 22nd, 2016, as the debut date for the new code.

Which wasn't entirely right, as reader Sean Coffey pointed out because in this thread Java's overseers were pondering a revised release schedule with March 23rd, 2017, as the day for Java 9's debut.

That date has since been all but agreed. The chief architect in Oracle's Java Platform Group, Mark Reinhold, Oracletook to the Java developer's mailing list on December 12th with the new schedule, suggesting that anyone opposed to the new plan make themselves heard by December 16th. That date's come and gone without obvious protest on the list.

Now Oracle's seen fit to ventilate the proposed schedule on its blog, proclaiming Reinhold's schedule represents the “Latest Java 9 News”.

By now you probably just want us to show you the proposed schedule. So in the interests of not frustrating readers we'd best stop padding this story and just give you the list.

Here it is:

Date Milestone
2016/05/26 Feature Complete 
2016/08/11 All Tests Run 
2016/09/01 Rampdown Start 
2016/10/20 Zero Bug Bounce 
2016/12/01 Rampdown Phase 2 
2017/01/26 Final Release Candidate 
2017/03/23 General Availability

The team's given itself an extra six months to get the job done, meaning the world will have to go through another Christmas without a new Java to play with.

Perhaps more importantly, the world will also have to wait for a new Java just as Internet of Things hype gathers even more pace. As Oracle likes to point out, Java's a fine fit for "things". History suggests Big Red doesn't need to worry about missing the boat: when a topic is as hyped as the IoT, by the time version 9 emerges developers will probably only just be starting on serious work, just as enthusiasm for apparently inevitable benefits ebbs. ®

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