I was in the BV EG back then... It was around 1.5 year until Proposed Final Draft, when the process was heavier than today. But I understand your perception is it's too heavyweight anyway.
My main concern is that, while we might be doing something better suited for the Java EE community, we're scattering the Java community even more. OpenJDK has its own contribution agreements, rules and process; we're about to create something different here; everything else left in the JCP will follow the current process; apparently Java ME wants to do something similar to EE. So this new reality will mean one's contributions to one part of Java means nothing when they contribute to the rest, there'll be a lot to learn process-wise, paperwork to be filled... We're actually making it harder for people to contribute to Java *in general*.
While I understand OpenJDK is kind of a "sideways" situation, I'd like to propose we pursue something here in terms of specification process that can be used for all Java specifications in the future that find the JCP too heavyweight and problematic, so that we don't have one solution for every facet of Java. Something like "Open Standards for Java". If key players as IBM, Red Hat, Tomitribe et al and some communities, as the LJC, conclude the JCP is not the way to do things going forward, I'm making a plea for JCP.next to be established here - and not just EE4J spec process; otherwise, we're fragmenting the community even more and making contributions to Java, as a whole, even more painful.
Regards,
Michael
