I've read rumors that Joda Time is slated to be included in Java 7, but am having trouble locating a definitive source for this information. Will Joda Time be included in a future JDK? Please cite your source.
It's JSR310 and is currently marked as inactive. I don't believe it's going in any time soon.
According to some posts on the mailing lists, 'inactive' refers to releases and doesn't reflect (say) the fact that the library may be near-complete and that they're just modifying docs. However the last mailing list message was in September, and I can't find anything relating to releases.
I've been in conversations recently with Stephen Colebourne (the main author of Joda Time and a lead for JSR-310) due to porting Joda Time to .NET (Noda Time). He's indicated that JSR-310 definitely isn't finished, and from the general tone I would be very surprised if it could be completed in time for Java 7.
Steven Colebourne, the author of Joda time is the spec lead of JSR-310 which aims to provide an alternative to the "old" Calendar/Date classes. While there are some similarities, JSR-310 is not Joda Time per se.
I followed the mailing list for quite some time, but there were quite a few open issues left, so as of now it does not appear as if JSR-310 is going to be included in JDK7.
So for now, if you are in need of a powerful date/time library, there is nothing speaking against Joda Time - even though it will not become "a standard", there will most certainly be no better alternative included in JDK7.
You can find a good overview of all proposed new Java features here: http://tech.puredanger.com/java7 Currently the JSR310 is marked as HMM
which unfortunately means that it's doubtful.
JSR-310 will not be included in JDK 7.
Stephen Colebourne Co-spec lead, JSR-310