I feel like I need to clarify what I meant by having a Sun/BEA/Google/whoever taking part in Groovy.
I don't want a big corporation to come in and take over and make it a marketing exersize.
What I really want is:
Full time leader(s) to push the language, show their passion, and move it along!
If someone stepped up to the plate to do this in their spare time, more power to them! The problem is that time is a tough commodity, so if a company could come in, see the value in Groovy, and allow for this leader to put all of their effort into the course, it will only be a good thing :)
Groovy needs strong leadership, direction, and to pick up momentum again.... much more so than a commitee. I worry about the JSR process since:
a) Design by commitee
b) Most importantly, what are we trying to standardize? Let's get a kick arse implementation first, and *maybe* standardize later. Groovy currently fails the rule: "Never standardize a 1.0"
Although some people think that the JSR will give Groovy more of a chance in the corporate world... I don't think it matters that much, and DEFINITELY doesn't matter if we never get to a top notch implementation.