Apache Launches a J2EE Project

gstein writes "The ASF has announced the launch of the "Geronimo" project. Geronimo will be an Apache-licensed implementation of the Java J2EE specification; further, the ASF is committed to getting it certified as J2EE-compliant. The project is looking for developers interested in helping to carry this ambitious effort forward. See the original invitation that was sent out to many J2EE communities."

What about JBoss?

[bornholtz]

I'm all for the Apache project and use many of their projects in my own open source project. However, the J2EE spec is *HUGE*. JBoss is already an Open Source implementation. Might it be a better effort to contribute and make JBoss stronger?

Re:Seems like a good idea

[amorico]

<sarcasm> Ooh, maybe it will be as fast and stable as Tomcat </sarcasm>.

Anyone who has tried to use freeroller can tell you how stellar the combination of struts and tomcat is.

What will be interesting is to see how it stacks up against JBoss and Jonas the other Open Source application servers. At this point, however, it is vapor, though Jakarta does have an excellent and deserved reputation for follow-up and completion. I use many of their components (which is why I have complaints ;)

The reason the J2EE learning curve is so steep is because the learning curve for transaction oriented distributed computing is steep. J2EE makes it easi-er, but not easy by any stretch of my tortured imagination. There is no wizard that can tell you how to scale and plan your architecture given your usage environment. Most people do it with a mixture of experience, best practices, and prayer.

Still, the more the merrier and the apache license will be very conducive to the constituent components of this server being used elsewhere. At the very least there will be more people to pray with over deployments.

Advantage over JBoss

[oops]

The advantage that this could have over JBoss is the potential for certification as a J2EE container.

JBoss have spent ages negotiating with Sun over the costs of certification, whereas Apache (as a registered charity) aren't eligible for the certification fee.

I'm not making a case for certification, but for some people this is a big deal.