Why Open Standards and Java/EE Matter (to You)

Words like standard, de-facto, de-jure and open are commonly traded around like cheap coins in our industry, ironically sometimes as a tool for overt or covert standards bashing. The reality is that few people really understand what these words actually mean or how these ideas effect their own professional lives in the long and short term.

This session will aim to clear the air on some of these terms and outline why open standards like Java and Java EE are critically important to you today and in the future. We will explore these concepts in the context of well-established economic theories on competition, monopoly power, the network effect, innovation, open source and open standards.

We will also discuss what being an open standard really means as well as why and how you should contribute to them yourself.

About Reza Rahman

Reza is a recovering independent consultant and now Java EE evangelist at Oracle. He is the author of the popular book EJB 3 in Action. Reza is a frequent speaker at developer gatherings worldwide including JavaOne and NFJS. He is an avid contributor to community sites like JavaLobby and TSS. Reza has been a member of the Java EE, EJB and JMS expert groups. He implemented the EJB container for the Resin open source Java EE application server.

All views voiced are squarely mine alone, not Oracle's.

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