Why Microsoft’s Commitment to OpenJDK Matters for Java Developers

Recently, Microsoft’s Bruno Borges announced on the OpenJDK mailing list that Microsoft has officially signed the Oracle Contributor Agreement and reaffirmed its commitment to Java and the OpenJDK community.

Borges, formerly an Oracle developer and now Microsoft’s Java chief product manager, introduced the Java engineering team lead Martijn Verburg, who also serves as CEO of jClarity, a major AdoptOpenJDK contributor acquired by Microsoft in August.

The full email can be found on the OpenJDK mailing list:

Hi OpenJDK community, In the past week Microsoft officially signed the Oracle Contributor Agreement, and Oracle has welcomed our participation. On behalf of the Microsoft Java engineering team, I am pleased to officially join the OpenJDK project and look forward to collaborating with you. As widely known, Microsoft and its subsidiaries heavily rely on Java and provide Java runtime services to customers on Azure. Microsoft recognizes the great value of the OpenJDK project under Oracle’s successful management, and we aim to contribute to its ecosystem. Led by Martijn Verburg, the Java engineering team is working with other Microsoft groups that use Java as well as ecosystem partners such as Azul Systems, Oracle, Pivotal, Red Hat, Intel, SAP, etc. The team will join several OpenJDK mailing lists and participate in discussions. We look forward to shaping the future of Java.

Microsoft’s first contribution to OpenJDK was in 2014, optimizing the TCP loopback fast‑path on Windows.

In October 2018 Oracle planned to migrate the OpenJDK source repository to GitHub, shortly after Microsoft’s acquisition of GitHub, further deepening the relationship.

Historical milestones include Microsoft’s J++ language in 1996, the 1997 antitrust lawsuit by Sun, the 2001 settlement prohibiting Microsoft from modifying Java on Windows, and the 2019 announcement of Microsoft joining OpenJDK development.