The company said that the upcoming Java EE (Enterprise Edition) 8 presents an opportunity to rethink how the platform is developed. Although development is done via open source with community participation, the current Oracle-led process is not seen as agile, flexible, or open enough.

"We believe that moving Java EE technologies to an open source foundation may be the right next step, to adopt more agile processes, implement more flexible licensing and change the governance process," Oracle said.

Oracle said it plans to continue participating in the evolution of Java EE technologies, even if it was not in charge..

"But we believe a more open process, that is not dependent on a single vendor as platform lead, will encourage greater participation and innovation, and will be in best interests of the community"... Oracle's goals for offloading Java EE would have Oracle not lead the project as it still effectively does with Java SE.

The move has been seen as a positive action by the Java community. An Eclipse's spokesman said that moving Java EE to a vendor-neutral open source foundation "would be great for both the platform and the community" and offered to serve as the host organization".