Isn't this obvious?

Bob Sutor rants about the selection process for JavaOne papers/speakers.

BUT, and this is where I felt stupid, Sun should not be solely responsible for deciding which papers are accepted! According to Casey, the papers are picked by

the JavaOne Conference Program Committee, a pack of the top dogs in Java technology at Sun. They are a brilliant, passionate, focused, and overworked group of ubergeeks, steeped in the history and evolution of the Java platform. Their mission is to review, select and oversee the content submitted in the Call for Papers (technical talks, BOFs) for each year's conference.

I would note that even being one of the overworked group of ubergeeks reviewing the proposal submissions doesn't guarantee yourself a speaking spot, as I can relate from personal experience:-)

Of course, maybe because the proposals Marc and I submitted were for a talk and a BOF on SOAP 1.2 before Sun really jumped on the Web services bandwagon, had something to do with not being selected:-)