User:Peter pilgrim/Java Champions

Java Champions

Java Champions was originally created by Sun Microsystems, now acquired by Oracle corporation, in order to engage with prominent members of the Java community. The Java Champions program was a part of the Sun Microsystem's Outreach department, originally. The idea was to engage with the leaders of the community in order to communicate corporate message, product announcement as well as allow those leaders to give feedback and advice to Sun Microsystems.

Java_(software_platform) is a language, a runtime and a platform that runs on the Java Virtual Machine (JVM).

Official Statement

Java champions are individuals and the whole group exists as non-hierarchical social structure. There are no levels. The Java champion members come from a broad cross-section of the Java community, including:

• Java Luminaries, senior developers, architects, consultants; JCP members; etc
• Academics/University Professors
• Authors of Java-related content (online & print) and industry conference speakers
• Community leaders: Java User Group (JUG) Leaders and the leaders of online Java portals

The Java Champions are an exclusive group of passionate Java technology and community leaders who are community-nominated and selected under a project sponsored by Oracle. Java Champions get the opportunity to provide feedback, ideas, and direction that will help Oracle grow the Java Platform. This interchange may be in the form of technical discussions and/or community-building activities with Oracle's Java Development and Developer Program teams.

Selection Criteria

Java Champions nominate new candidates under a closed selection process, which is a peer review process.

• Java Champions are leaders; ideal candidates are leading Java-related projects, JUG communities, or online Java portals.
• Java Champions are technical luminaries; the candidate should be a Java engineer or architect who is relatively senior and has lots of experience.
• Java Champions are credible; Java Champions may author or publish content that is pro, neutral, or negative toward Oracle (unless there is a litigious issue).
• Java Champions are involved with some really cool applications of Java Technology or are involved with some sort of humanitarian or educational effort. The application must be openly available to the Java community (vs. a company-proprietary or government-classified project).
• Java Champions are able to evangelize or influence other developers through their own professional activities (via consulting, teaching, writing, speaking, etc.)

Activities

Java Champions provided valuable feedback, criticism and advice to Sun Microsystems. The outreach program typically provided resources and infrastructure for a telephone call. For example in JavaFX 1.0 product and early releases on Java EE 5 and the Java Community Process and other Java related product especially from Sun Microsytems.

In 2010, the acquisition of Sun Microsystem by Oracle, brought a sea change and different business model to the scene. In comparison to Sun, Oracle operated by stricter secrets, intellectual property rights, more effective return on investments and one result of this, was the restriction in external communications. There were a sizable number of Java Champions who found that Oracle's low levels and lack of communication to be very disappointed, and this was at the time when confidence in the Java software platform, the innovation in Java and community was being tested by wider general public in IT. The ramifications of this 'difference' in communications style has been felt and is widely seen be a significant 'hurt'.

TODO: Sources for lack of communication

Founding Java Champions

  * Adam Winer (Founding Member, USA)

Incomplete https://java-champions.dev.java.net/content/corechampions.html

List of Java Champions

  * Adam Winer (USA)
  * Peter Pilgrim
  * Stephen Colebourne

Incomplete https://java-champions.dev.java.net/content/corechampions.html

Key Individuals

Aaron Houston

One of the key individuals of the Java Champions programs at Sun Microsystems from 2005 to 2010 was Aaron Houston, where he was part of the Sun Technology Outreach team. In the United States (North American) such marketing and community activities by Internet and hardware or software product companies can be classified as Technology Evangelism. Aaron Houston was the former Program Coordinator, Community Programs & Technology Outreach, for Sun Microsystems Inc. He very successfully built relationships with other Java champions, JUG Leader and individuals in the Java community especially in the USA and Europe. Aaron Houston was also the co-organiser of the java.net Community Corner at several JavaOne conferences. After Sun Microsystems was acquired on January 2010, Aaron Houston, left the new corporation, Oracle. He moved to Adobe as one of their Community Managers for Adobe User Groups.

In fact, Java Champion, Peter Pilgrim, remembers, Aaron Houston, handing over the responsibility of the outreach community to Oracle, by introducing Justin Kestelyn on a telephone conference call in January 2010. This call was well remember by those Java Champions who listened, as it was announced that JavaOne 2010 would be first conference co-located with Oracle's own Open World and Oracle Develop simultaneously.

References

Old Java Champions Page on Java.Net

New Java Champions Page on Kenai

Java Champion Members Feb 2011

External links

• example.com