The official International Standards Organization announcement won't come until Monday, but a source familiar with the vote says Sun Microsystems' Java language is well on its way to becoming a global standard.
So far, the United States and China are the only countries that have submitted "no" votes on Sun's bid to secure its role as gatekeeper for submissions on Java updates. Of the remaining countries, 20 have voted "yes," two have abstained, and one, Ireland, has yet to cast its vote.
A simple majority of the International Standards Organization membership is all that's needed for Sun to win approval as a Publicly Available Specification submitter. The organization's joint technical committees make the final decision on changes to a standard, but with its new status, Sun will now be in an advantaged position to guide any changes or updates.
In its first attempt in July, Sun failed to get a majority of the votes cast. This second-round victory, however, positions Sun for the next crucial step: the actual standardization of the Java language.
"The next major milestone ... is the submission of two main components," said Tom Doucher, a standards representative with IBM. The first of those components, Doucher said, includes the technical specification for Java itself, the Java Virtual Machine, and the core application programming interfaces. The second part is an explanatory report, in which Sun would have to document how it is in compliance with all the submission criteria, such as details on specification maintenance.
"What I don't have a good feel for is the timing [on its submission]," said Doucher. "That is up to Sun."
After Sun does make a formal submission to standardize Java, the report and specifications will be parceled out to all the countries for yet another round of review and comments, a process that takes approximately six months, said Doucher. After that, a final vote will be taken, and a two-thirds majority is needed to win approval, with no more than 25 percent "no" votes.
The ISO process has been a lobbying triumph for Sun, which now finds itself in the position of maintaining some control over the evolution of its prized language. In addition, the many other companies with a vested interest in Java will now be able to move forward with the development of products that will have the blessing of the ISO, and all the marketing advantages that designation carries.
IBM, for instance, is heavily involved in these ISO voting procedures, with representatives in at least 20 of the member countries that have voted, Doucher said. In those countries, the IBM representatives sit on committees that discuss, and ultimately vote, on ISO proposals. In the United States, the representative committee voted "no," but Doucher noted that "the strength of the 'no' position isn't as strong as it appears in the bottom-line results."
"The thing that we consistently find is ringing endorsement of getting Java approved as a standard," said Doucher. "It will be enjoyable to move this discussion on to the specifics of Java, and finally getting a standard established."
