Members of the Java Community Process (JCP) voted to approve the JavaEE 6 specification this week, concluding two years of discussions and development. Yet even after JCP members' approval for JSR-316, the Java Specification Request (JSR) that defines the new Java spec, the release still has its detractors.

Charging that Oracle has willfully disregarded the licensing terms for its own Java technology, the Apache Software Foundation has called upon other members of the Java Community Process (JCP) to vote against the next proposed version of the language, should Oracle continue to impose restrictions on open-source Java use.

At CeBIT Open Source 2009 Martin Michlmayr, past Debian project lead, presented his current projects FOSSology and FOSSBazaar, and spoke about the role his employer Hewlett-Packard is giving him in the governance project and how the FOSSBazaar work group is organized within the Linux Foundation.

With reference to the recent happenings in connection with the ISO standardization process of OOXML, actions by or on behalf of Microsoft have caused me deep pain and hurt. Apart from the personal anguish, these actions have tarnished the name of my Institute along with that of several other organizations represented on our committee.

One week after Google open sourced its $124.6m VP8 video codec, Mozilla and Opera have called for its inclusion in the still-gestating HTML5 specification. As it stands, the HTML5 spec does not specify a video codec. Browser makers are free to use any codec they like, and the big names are split between the patent-backed H.264 and the open source Ogg Theora.

Oracle's decision to block Apache's Harmony project from being recognized as standards-compliant falls afoul of the rules that govern Java standardization and has raised serious questions about the openness of the programming language. The non-profit ASF intends to fight back by using its seat in the Java Community Process (JCP) Executive Committee to vote against the approval of Java 7, the next major version of the programming language.

n July of 2008, the Linux Foundation started the process for standardizing Linux with the Linux Standards Base 4.0 spec.This week, after a couple years of official availability the Linux Foundation is set to formally announce that all of the leading commercial Linux vendors have now certified to LSB 4.0.

HP is among the biggest backers of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) in the world. As such they've developed their own best practices and tools to help their customers understand what Open Source licenses their applications contain as well as helping to maintain compliance with the terms of the various licenses.

Google's Android will continue to run an unauthorized version of Java for the foreseeable future — something the Apache Software Foundation has warned will fragment the community. Talks between the ASF and database giant Oracle on tests that could certify the open source version of Java running on Android have made no progress, the group told us.