The releases of three Oracle staff members have been confirmed – Simon Ritter, James Weaver and Mark Heckler, which are well-known and respected among the Java community, had to leave. Reactions on the subject are spreading all over various social networks. Furthermore, there is a discussion on Twitter and Reddit whether Oracle is about to lay off all of its Java evangelists. At present the reports are unconfirmed. The speculations are based on a tweet by Java performance tuning specialist Kirk Pepperdine and a post on Facebook by Simon Ritter. Oracle did not yet comment on an information request by The Register.
Shortly after the release of the latest reports, the first opinions were voiced by the Java community: “The community relies on the evangelists. They have been constantly providing us with reliable information.”, stresses Markus Eisele, Head of Java community at DOAG and program leader for the JavaLand conference. “In addition, they have been providing us with knowledge about features and innovations, which was passed on to developers and other users.”, Eisele continues.
On the one hand the Java evangelists are responsible for the technical marketing targeting Java developers, and, on the other hand, they take part in the development of the programming platform. Moreover, they are the mouthpiece of the Java community and give lectures at international conferences on a regular basis.
It remains to be seen which consequences the release of the Oracle staff members will have on the Java product. Fried Saacke, chairman of iJUG (Interest group of Java User Groups) and member of the board at DOAG, is certain about one thing: “With the evangelists, important know-how will also disappear. It will not only be lost for Oracle and the Java community, but Oracle also puts Java user’s confidence at risk – at the very moment Oracle is losing it.”
Why Oracle decided to lay off its evangelists – mere weeks before upcoming JavaOne – is uncertain so far. Since the software development technology is marketed on the yearly conference of the corporation – and this especially through the evangelists – it remains to be seen who will be in charge of marketing in late October.
