The JCP posted the first official inkling of what Java EE might look like in the review ballot for JSR 313, Java Platform, Enterprise Edition 6 (Java EE 6) Specification. As with prior umbrella JSRs, JSR 313 will not define new APIs, but will instead coordinate the work of many sub-JSRs to provide a coherent EE 6 platform.

The JCP's site contains some interesting tidbits about the expert group's thinking:

• Extensibility
  

  It would not be appropriate for the Java EE platform to grow without bound to include all the interesting and useful technologies desired by web and enterprise application developers. Instead, we believe it is desirable to enable more of these technologies to cleanly layer on or plug in to Java EE application servers. By adding more extensibility points and more service provider interfaces, these other technologies can plug in to platform implementations cleanly and efficiently, and be just as easy to use for developers as the facilities that are built into the platform.

• Profiles
  

  The reach of the Java EE platform has become so broad that it has lost some of its original focus. To refocus the Java EE platform on particular classes of developers and applications, we propose the introduction of Java EE platform Profiles. Profiles will reference the Java EE platform, as defined by the JCP process, and may include a subset of Java EE platform technologies, additional JCP technologies not part of the base Java EE platform, or both...

  This expert group will also define the first version of a Java EE Web Profile - a subset of the Java EE platform targeted at web application development...

• Pruning
  

  It's also the case that some technologies included in the Java EE platform are no longer as relevant as they were when they were introduced to the platform. There needs to be a way to "prune" these technologies from the platform in a careful and orderly way that minimizes the impact to developers using these technologies while allowing the platform to grow even stronger.

• SOA:
  

  Java EE 6 will need to consider additional web services support. While basic web services support is now part of the Java SE 6 platform, this specification will require newer versions of these technologies that provide additional web services support....

  The Service Component Architecture is defining facilities that could be used by composite applications in a SOA environment. This expert group will consider whether any of the SCA-defined facilities are appropriate for inclusion in this release of the Java EE platform.

What do you think of the JSR 313 review ballot notes? What direction would you like Java EE 6 to take?