By all standards it was a pretty lightly attended Java One – I expected it to be a lot lighter given the economy, the uncertainty around Java and the Bacon Fever – so I was actually pleasantly surprised. Outside of Sun itself – I think JBoss was probably the largest software vendor on the pavilion floor – that says something.

Despite the low attendance overall – we had very solid attendance at our mini-theatre sessions – I think ours was one of the few booths that drew a crowd (without having to give stuff away) – so all in all it was a good show for us.

I’d be very surprised if this wasn’t the the last Java One; and as the crews started dismantling the pavilion – I felt like I should be trying to rip down a sign or banner – some memento to remind me of the fun times I’ve had at Java One over the years.

A lot of people were questioning the future of Java at the show (as usual) but I still firmly believe it’s going to be safe enough for the next 20 or 30 years – more than long enough for most of us. I don’t think Oracle will do anything stupid; though given the size and complexity of Sun I think they’re bound to make mistakes – it’s up to us to tell them when they do and to help resolve them.

As anyone who knows Java One – it’s about the people you meet – not the content. And so it is with Java – it’s about the people / community / ecosystem – at the end of the day – no single company has really owned Java for a long time.

Update : My pictures and Marek Goldmann’s pictures on Flickr.

For me, the main attraction of JavaOne is the opportunity to connect email addresses to faces – ie. it’s a great social and netorking opportunity – nearly everyone in Java-land (and beyond) will be there. This year, it looks like JBoss will have a pretty decent attendance. As well as the usual developer, enterprise Java, SOA tooling and run-times we’ll be showing off JON 2.0 (as mentioned previously) – if you spend any time managing large, complex JBoss clouds – you should swing by the JBoss pod (#734) and take a look.

On the developer tooling side – go listen to Burr Sutter and Max Katz (Exadel) talking about tools (TS-7479) – I hear it’s sold out but another session has been scheduled. Then swing by the JBoss pod (#734) to see a demo of JBDS and see what we’re giving out for free

For detais of other talks and BOFs from Gavin King, Emmanuel Bernard, Mark Little and registration details for the JBoss party – go here.

See you next week !

And now a word from my sponsor.

It’s that time of year when you need to really impress your boss, so when you submit your expense request for JavaOne 2008 – they won’t have to think twice about letting you attend the biggest developer conference on the planet.

The chances of me attending this year are pretty slim – which is a shame as I’ve attended every year but one* since 1999. That said – I’m hatching a cunning plan – so maybe I’ll see you there.

* I missed 2000 – I was on my Honeymoon in the Seychelles (and JavaOne 2001 Japan).