Oracle Apache JCP rift: "The Apache Software Foundation has resigned its seat on the Java SE/EE Executive Committee (EC). Apache has served on the EC for the past 10 years, winning the JCP 'Member of the Year' award 4 times, and recently was ratified for another term with support from 95% of the voting community."
That's how to the Apache Software Foundation blog post begins when describing why they have quit the Java JCP EC. They later add:
"The recent Java SE 7 vote was the last chance for the JCP EC to demonstrate that the EC has any intent to defend the JCP as an open specification process...
To sum up the issues at stake in the vote, we believe that while continuing to fail to uphold their responsibilities under the JSPA, Oracle provided the JCP EC with a Java SE 7 specification request and license that are self-contradictory, severely restrict distribution of independent implementations of the spec, and most importantly, prohibit the distribution of independent open source implementations of the spec."
And later:
"The Apache Software Foundation concludes that that JCP is not an open specification process - that Java specifications are proprietary technology that must be licensed directly from the spec lead (Oracle) under whatever terms the spec lead chooses (more here)..."
In short, according to the ASF, Oracle has made the JCP a closed process.
As I've written before, I think Sun was more or less looked at as a benevolent dictator, while Oracle has always had a very different reputation, and they are clearly interested in the bottom line of how much income they can generate from the Java IP they got when they bought Sun.
Apache Harmony project
It's important to note that a lot of this Oracle Apache JCP rift is about the Apache Harmony project. As they state in the fourth paragraph of their blog post:
In the phrase "fail to uphold their responsibilities under the JSPA", we are referring to Oracle's refusal to provide the Apache Software Foundation's Harmony project with a TCK license for Java SE that complies with Oracle's obligations under the JSPA as well as public promises made to the Java community by officers of Sun Microsystems (recently acquired by Oracle.) This breach of the JSPA was begun by Sun Microsystems in August of 2006 and is a policy that Oracle explicitly continues today.
Here's a link to the Apache Harmony project. I just looked on that web page, and I don't see any discussion of this issue there. And here's a link to the Apache Software Foundation's blog post about their resignation.
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