Posted by Alex Stewart on March 26, 1996 at 00:43:04:
I've been working on Java-related projects for a while now,
and from my experiences I'm slowly coming to some conclusions.
While I do have a fair amount of respect for Sun's development
and promotion of the Java system, it is increasingly apparent
to me that in quite a few (actually, nearly all) areas
regarding current Java-related issues, Sun's support and
response can only be described as woefully inadequate.
Despite what people have managed to eek out of them, most of
the current Java APIs are pathetic shells of what they could
and should be. The AWT is effectively a joke (being nearly
useless for much more than little eye-candy applets which
bounce happily on someone's screen or similar things).
Porting of Java to other platforms and development of systems
which use it has been basically relegated to net volunteers
(Sun did _finally_ get around to releasing the mac port which
they've been claiming was coming for longer than I can
remember. If they keep up development at this rate it'll be
the next century before we have a new revision of the API to
work with).
...and just try to get a response out of Sun on anything
Java-related at all.
In short, it feels rather like I've jumped on a bandwagon
and then found out Sun won't let any of the horses out of
the stables. It's becoming increasingly clear that if any
of this stuff is going to be taken care of, someone else
is going to have to take it upon themselves to see that
it gets done, and this is where we come to the main point
of this post.
The primary purpose of TeamJava is to assist Java
programmers, developers, and companies in finding both the
jobs/employees and the resources they need to work
effectively in the Java world. I can not come up with any
aspect I consider more vital to this purpose than ensuring
that the Java language itself, and systems which use it,
continue to exist, develop, and respond to the community
which uses them.
I would like TeamJava to become more than just an electronic
"help wanted" bulletin board. I would like it to become
actively involved in shaping the future of Java through
community-based advisory boards, standards committees, and
development projects.
And I would like you guys out there to tell me what you
think of such an idea, and whether others would be interested
in helping put such things together.
-alex