Oracle appears to be making redundancies in the ranks of its Java evangelists team.

One of the evangelists, Simon Ritter, has taken to Facebook to say: “I've heard it said that you should try something new every day. Yesterday I thought I'd see what it was like to be made redundant.”

It's not hard to see why Oracle might decide to dispense with Java evangelists. While popular, the technology is mature and many developers have moved on to other things. It is not exactly in favor with many web developers. There may not therefore be enormous upside in continuing to promote Java, although the technology is hardly likely to emerge from a downturn without evangelists.

Nor is Java likely to do well in the Internet of Things, a market that looks tailor-made for the technology and which Oracle has, like every other vendor, proclaimed it will pursue successfully.

Java consultant Kirk Pepperdine has taken to Twitter with the following missive:

Unsettling event at Oracle. All of the Java evangelists have been let go. Sad this happened to a great dedicated enthusiastic group — kcpeppe (@kcpeppe) September 4, 2015

We've asked Oracle to explain the situation, and we were told: "We decline comment." Perhaps that's because, at the time of writing, the US is two hours away from clocking off for a three-day Labor Day weekend. Those shown the door by Oracle probably won't enjoy the holiday very much. ®