| Will Sun be Bold? |
| Casey Kochmer |
| This ramble is based upon the situation between Sun and JBoss. |
| For a little history the reader can check out this story. |
| Also some more can be found at Vnunet |
| For those who want a two line summary of what is happening: The current process for obtaining a J2EE compliant license has caused problems with licensing JBoss. Now several issues exist in this overall process. However, the end effect is currently: it's not possible for JBoss to get a J2EE compliant license, even though it's in reality currently J2EE compliant in everything but official license. Now this may not seem like a lot. However, this little battle has many larger consequences. I would like to look at one consequence that has become clear within my crystal ball. |
| I am currently working on a Web service project that will use both .Net and Java. The one thing that has become obvious, the .Net Framework and .Net Studio development environment are both very good. I can easily build most projects quickly and efficiently within .Net. Also I am able to port code between .Net and Java very simply and quickly. What does this have to do with JBoss? Quite a lot actually. I think the .Net IDE and framework, are solidly aimed at the low to mid cost Web service based environments. The tool is simple to use, and .Net is very inexpensive as far as the tool costs. I am not looking at the larger overall integration costs, but just the simple up front costs of the tool itself. The reason, as this is the cost many shops base their initial decision upon. Quite honestly, the best alternative to .Net for these shops would be JBoss. After all you can't beat the price of JBoss, its free. Also JBoss uses many high quality components, and it's possible to use the free NetBeans or Eclipse for the IDE with JBoss. JBoss ends up being one of the best competing products against .Net! |
| Now Sun is looking at other issues, and honestly I am sure they would provide me with dozens of pages of nice reasons why their current position makes sense. That is fine, but I am not looking at the current position I am looking at the future here and I see .Net eroding at Java J2EE unless Sun supports low cost and high quality open source J2EE solutions. That is:It's of my opinion that Sun is just shooting itself in the foot at the start of a race between .Net and J2EE. |
| The fact is after starting to use .Net, I seriously believe that Sun should be more worried about .Net than with minor licensing issues with products that enhance Java. As a person who recommends solutions to companies, JBoss is one of the few Java solutions I will recommend to many shops, and if JBoss isn't officially J2EE compliant, you just made it very difficult to convince many shops to use JBoss over .Net. It's that simple actually. The erosion of J2EE will be in the small to mid size shops or organizations with less resources, but it will happen quickly and it will eat out Java's market share. |
| Many readers will remember I mentioned I would be watching the battle of between Sun and Microsoft closely. Also that this was the year where critical choices would be made. Ironically, this seemingly small event, is actually one of major events in the battle of Sun vs Microsoft. If Sun remains close minded in these current licensing issues, then honestly, I feel Microsoft ends up being one major step ahead of Sun and Java. So folks focus in and watch, here is one of the milestones to be watched in the great .Net vs Java battle. Seems almost silly doesnt it? |
| In terms of this ramble, I would like to include a link to Bert Whyte. |
| Letter from America: Bert of the Bay (Bert Whyte February 22, 2002) |
| A very well written commentary about Microsoft. I have included it, as it contains one insight which I have not considered before in this current battle. The quote in question is: "Microsoft's success has been the failure of others. I suppose that is a defining characteristic of our capitalist system." This quote applies to this ramble. |
| Finally ServerSide has an excellent discussion on this topic. |