That, anyway, is the view of IBM's Director of WebSphere Foundation Software as well as its Web services and SOA efforts, Bob Sutor.

"I was rather disturbed by some news reports a couple of weeks ago that said that Sun is considering merging its Sun Network conference in with JavaOne 2005," Sutor wrote last week in an impassioned blog. "If Sun Network merges in with JavaOne, will we all just be participants in a Sun infomercial?"

"Why would vendors pay the very hefty sponsorship fees to help Sun marketing?" Sutor wondered, out loud. "I'm not delusional in thinking that JavaOne isn't important to the Sun marketing organization and I know they spend a lot of money on it, so they get the right to be very visible. They even get to have keynotes where they bash other sponsors."

"That said, they walk a fine line between keeping the focus on Java vs. Sun. Merging Sun Network with JavaOne would completely cross over the line toward making this an explicitly Sun event. At that point it becomes a lot less interesting as a community get-together."

Sutor was careful to note that he believed the Java community will keep growing and growing. ("The sheer number of specs on JDocs shows the health of the Java world beyond the offical Java Community Process.) And he reiterated that IBM is firmly behind helping Java grow and grow into new areas.

But on the matter of converging the two events, he was adamant. It is not a good idea. Sutor made a plea as follows:

"This is my request to Sun: keep the community JavaOne and Sun-specific Sun Network conferences separate. From what I've read, Sun has not made a final decision. I urge you to err on the side of the community on this one."