Moving Java EE away from the JCP - an important first step

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I was surprised as others to see this in one of the first few messages on list

It is my understanding that the new specification process will not be using the JCP.

 However, I believe it's an extremely important thing to realize how critical of a step this is.  When Oracle purchased Sun, they brought along everything that was there.  Included in this was the very Sun heavy JCP, which while being open was a pain if you weren't a Sun employee.  Much of this has remained the case with Oracle in the lead.  The JCP is run independently, but by seemingly Oracle staff.

While we've been able to get some JSRs through that are not lead by Oracle, it hasn't been many.  The intention to move EE4J away from the JCP is purely a positive sign that Oracle wants to let the community drive the initiatives.  It allows those who want a say and have a say to drive the direction of this new technology.  If I look at who is on the JCP EC, not all of them are involved in Java EE today.  So why should the future and effectively the vote on whether a Java EE specification is ready to be shipped put forth to a group who may not be interested in Java EE?

To me at least, this is a great sign, an important step, and really a clear indication that we need to look at things differently with EE4J than we ever did with Java EE.  I welcome the future and the innovation that this project is going to create.