What is JSR 348 (JCP.next)?

I was thinking about how to keep track of the articles I read and things I take time to learn about, like JSR 348, and I realized I should just stick it on my blog. That's kinda why it's here. So here we go: JSR 348 is nicknamed JCP.next because it revises the Java Community Process, which dictates how revisions to the Java platform are made. The final release was 18 October 2011, which means that every new JSR after that date is required to conform to the new requirements of JCP 2.8 (the new revision).

Generally, JSR 348 is focused on making sure in-progress JSRs are more transparent, are easier for anybody to get involved with, and keep moving at a reasonable pace so they don't stall out unfinished, like many have in the past. Just some of the measures include requiring that communication take place in a public forum, widening the pool of people who can be involved in JSRs to include just about anybody, and providing for removing uncooperative or unproductive (or just plain missing) members from the Expert Group of a JSR as well as replacing the Spec Lead if necessary. The Executive Committee was itself the Expert Group for JSR 348, and while working on the JSR, they followed all the guidelines that they themselves were putting into the new version of the JSR. Comments from the EC seem to indicate they felt it was a very positive experience.

Overall, it seems like an attempt initiated by Oracle to overcome some of the criticism after their takeover of Java from Sun and the fears that Java would become more closed and tightly owned by Oracle and possibly stagnate. From what I've seen while browsing around, there's a lot of hope that JSR 348 will be a success on those fronts. It only took a handful of months to complete and puts some pretty aggressive measures in place that look like they'll keep things open and moving along at a good pace. More importantly, it's gaining quite a lot of acceptance in the community, and it seems like people are breathing a sigh of relief at seeing Java looking like it's ready to come out of the quagmire it seemed to be in. Maybe the major releases will come along more often now and we can look forward to regular infusions of new language improvements?

A couple of the articles I read that are fairly short but give a good overview of the JSR:
The JCP Program Moves Towards a New Version: JCP.next
JCP 2.8 Ushers in a New Era of Complete Transparency