JavaOne

Oh, JavaOne. I remember you well, and would that I were there again. The swag. The booths. The bags. The bofs. The sore feet. The sheer geeky joy of it all, rubbing elbows with hungry dreamers, coders and Javasseurs.

I went to JavaOne as a tech journalist, four years ago, during the heady cold war between JBoss and Sun microsystems over the future of their J2EE standard. It was great fun, but more than fun, it exposed me to some of the most forward thinking minds in the United States, and really got the taste of innovation in my mouth. I would absolutely do it all over again, but it sneaks up on the world each year, I suppose. Where were the tension building news articles that slowly introduced us all to the big concepts at stake this year? Where, that spark of human drama that envelops the masses and brings them closer to Sun? I'm too provincial, and missed those things.

But, there smacks of incredible change afoot, and hope that there are good journos there in San Francisco this week, someone who can see the big picture, who can write, and who loves or at the very least has a cold eyed respect for Java and its potential. Our eyes on the ground, as it were. Good luck to everyone who has worked hard to get their booths set up, who braved all of the frantic trips to Kinkos in downtown San Francisco. And good luck to Sun. We're watching out here.