I was a Product Manager at Oracle when we decided to integrate Java. It seemed like an odd decision to those outside Oracle, but at the highest levels in Oracle we were circulating a Microsoft internal presentation about how Microsoft was going to use the dominance of Visual Studio to defeat competitors across the application space. So Oracle had no choice except to support Java as the alternative to Visual Studio. So Java and all Open Source support were really done only to the extent which self-interest demanded. We had floors of kernel engineers fixing Linux to make it work (it was barely functional back then.) And we coordinated with HP, IBM, Sun, Red Hat, and others so that they would encourage and pay their engineers to support Open Source. The idea that Open Source is somehow separate from business and market forces ignores its history. And the idea that Open Source is always positive is equally absurd. I've been working in open source for decades now, and the big winners are often the same rich companies which are extracting the wealth of our society - as they get software for free while the engineers provide work without getting the true "fruits of their labor". Does it make sense for multi-billionaires to get this software for free? Really, the Open Source idea is very messed up in an economy with distinct winners and losers.
<i>Many people seem to have an impression of Oracle as a company full of corporate drones. This is far from the truth. I wasn't, Cameron wasn't and we are very far from being alone.</i><p>That may be true, but if you're not generating revenue for Oracle, you will be fired and replaced with a lawyer who can at least look for a new IP angle to sue over, or a new way to nickel-and-dime existing customers to extract more license fees. (Coming to Java 10: Garbage Collector Licensing. Beginning with Java 10, Oracle will assess a fixed fee for each byte of memory reclaimed by the Oracle JRE garbage collector. Contact your Oracle sales representative for pricing details.)
I knew Cameron from 15 years back. Always helpful and very down to earth person. I am surprised he stayed at Oracle that long.<p>He was very active in BEA Weblogic Forums/usergroups. He would answer most questions with helpful answers. When he started building Coherence (which was sold to Oracle and hence ended up at Oracle) he added Coherence link to his signature while answering questions or trouble shootings other users problems. Pretty soon most JavaEE developers became aware of Coherence with that single trick.
What is it that compels people to write these posts? I remember when you'd make some personal decision, and just tell friends if they happened to ask why.
What exactly is the reason for leaving Oracle? Seems like an exec. at Oracle, Cameron was forced out. OK. Not sure what the background on the departure is. Everyone knows Oracle is evil. So that can't be it. Is there some reading between the lines here? Maybe somebody embedded in the Java ecosystem can shed light.
There is tremendous activity in OpenJDK projects which means Oracle is finally concentrating on core technology. So many of these projects seems to directly help developers as compare to JavaEE stuff which is mostly targeted for vendors peddling there gigabytes size application servers. I have had misfortune of using those products. Now I am much happier using Core Java / servlets with tomcat.<p>A possible fallout of Oracle focussing on core Java and cutting down on JavaEE monstrosity is that all those pattern laden enterprise architect/astronauts/evangelists seems less in demand at least at Oracle. I may not be biggest fan of Oracle but I think in case of evangelist types leaving Oracle is good thing.
Hmm thats similar to why I left Amazon. I was tasked with mundane tasks like localizing strings for huge marketing faq pages. I wrote scripts to give the 900 odd strings numerical locale ids. But my manager who all my code had to pass through for code review wanted individually described and named ids. For what other reason than he was a corporate drone with Java abstractions for factories of factories of DatabaseQueryCreator that invoked DatabaseQueryBuilder etc etc I do not know. I will never work for another corp where I dont feel like a magician in terms of programming and tooling efficiency. It was absolutely dreadful and loathing to march to my death as a creative and intellectual. Fuck drone work and fuck drone managers and executives who try to serve it up only because they hate themselves too much to embrace the beauty of the discipline of hip and efficient software engineering
Humans love mental shortcuts. E.g. Taibbi has forever tagged Goldman Sachs as "The Vampire Squid". Years ago somebody Google bombed Microsoft as "more evil than Satan himself". And Bush became "miserable failure".<p>So, what of Oracle? I'm drawing a blank, but that's probably because I don't frequently interact with Oracle or with its products.<p>Anyone?
I'm nitpicking a bit, but this stood out to me as a good example of why I've never wanted to be part of Java-land:<p>> He helped pioneer one of the most successful pieces of enterprise infrastructure that has stood the test of time. <i>Yet he is humble enough to still code</i><p>I mean, doesn't coding being perceived as a "humble" job he's lowering himself to really say it all? It's rarely explicitly said, but coding is considered a low status activity in those spheres. That's why I avoid Java work. Other languages have cultures that respect the craft, rather than viewing it as something you grow out of.