"Oracle may take a more hands-on approach to Java than Sun did," Valdes added. "However, this does not necessarily imply a single broad-scope conference on Java."

A prominent Java developer predicted a future for the conference.

"I'd be surprised if it's the last JavaOne," said Rod Johnson, creator of the Spring Framework for Java, who will give a presentation at next week's event on the 3.0 version of Spring. "I think in order for Oracle to succeed, they need Java as a language to continue to be successful."

"Assuming that they believe that JavaOne is a good thing for Java, and I think it is, I would expect [the event] to continue," Johnson said.

JavaOne will highlight Sun's JavaFX technology for rich media applications. , who will talk about the company's software and services partnership with Sun that spans on-premise and cloud computing. Lewin's appearance will be the first time a Microsoft official has given a keynote speech at JavaOne. It might be the last, too, regardless of JavaOne's future, given that Oracle and Microsoft have not always gotten along.