Views on the Industry

fallacy of community

I believe I had the first migraine I have had in my life towards the end of this very trying week. I can blame the lack of (sugar-free) Red Bull or the lingering cough, but I think it was a combined cornucopia of stress. First, I am leaving SCS. In case you do not know what it is, just stay tuned for I will be back on the radar. But more disconcerting was the (still) possibility that the Zion of enterprise software was potentially going to be penetrated and discarded. That is the nightmare scenario, I don't think I am alone, at all, to think that this was on the minds of many a Java person. That sentence is somehow wrong, but lets move on...

We are of course talking about JBoss and Oracle, and what it would mean to the Java "community". Well, I am here to inform the peace and love contingency of Sun's dream to sell hardware on standardized software that it is officially dead. The heavyweights have been challenged and they are beginning their response. Glassfish was first out of the gate, and what a brilliant move it was. Then came Gluecode/IBM, alongside ObjectWeb's JOnAS, and BEA's move to OSS "frameworks." HP is too busy with Itanic to do anything in software, and so that did leave one gaping hole in the market, and no I am not talking about MSFT, but ORCL, of course.

What is my point that has not been covered ad nauseum this week, and why do I claim Sun's dream is dead - - as it applies to app servers? Oracle has done more to kill the Java marketplace in one week, than any product of theirs could have done in two generations of releases. They have been threatened and they are trying to respond with the simple moniker of 'Fusion'. There is no contribution of Oracle to the community, even though their exhibit #1 is Top Link. There is no need for Top Link, but considering that companies may want choice at the level of persistence (unlikely), it still is not a standardized app server. Why not make OC4J a continuous OSS project, rather than bring it house and bastardize it as a mere component of a larger hair-ball. Instead, Chuck and RS have conspired to kill JBoss, and may pull it off, as it all comes down to votes now. Until I hear the execution of an IPO plan, there is the threat that the Java community could splinter in to a million little pieces, for JBoss alone is holding the market together. Turning JBoss over to the biggest propagator of non-standard Java is akin to turning Eclipse over to Microsoft. It is.

I am not shocked by this, more that I am blinded by the surety of the ORCL/BEAS merger to recognize that Oracle does not make moves on wisdom alone, rather they prefer to eliminate entire markets. They are trying to cut off salesforce.com's air supply, they are trying to eliminate choice in the apps market (which is fine, as that business is about to be overturned), and they are now officially trying to kill JEE, as it does not suit their long-term pursuits to have compatibility, portability, and choice. The app server, however, is ground zero (pardon the expression) for the future of enterprise software. Without JBoss, there is no meaningful JEE 5, EJB 3, Hibernate, JBI-spec, or even an OSS movement. Its all gone, just like that. This is disconcerting for a start-up without the resources to fend off unlimitedly. It is time for JBoss to go public, and have the market evaluate what should be the best course of action.

You heard it here first, I would rather have Microsoft own JBoss, than Oracle. Giving the app server market to BEA is a terrible mistake on Marc's part, if he is unsuccessful in staying independent, there is some unholy alliance between Oracle and BEA that has not been spoken. The only one to gain from a JBoss acquisition is BEA, and then we would have to hear people like BR ("get a haircut") and Breya talk like they know a single thing about the business of enterprise software, and since they don't know technology either, despite one of their titles, it is a travesty for the Java community to be left with one choice. Jonathan is right, a JBoss acquisition by Oracle threatens Sun, as well. Glassfish could easily become the Platform Edition for the WebLogic Enterprise Edition all running on shiny T1 and T2000 boxes.

This whole notion that OSS is for entry-level servers, projects, apps, and web-sites is wrong, I could think of a no bigger challenge for an independent JBoss than to quickly move out of the developer ranks and in to the IT management ranks. The best way to do this is through JBI-enabled ESB, so get going on it Little! This is a wake-up call to every developer and marketer that is working in the virtual abyss, outside of the walls of a "systems" vendor. Turn an independent JBoss in to a truly competitive offering to WebLogic, or risk losing Java altogether...

posted by douglas dooley @ 10:42 AM 2 comments

JS

Great article, all on:

http://www.infoworld.com/article/06/02/14/75379_HNhpsunososbc_1.html

Its your move Marc, make the most of it...

posted by douglas dooley @ 2:13 PM 0 comments

Fusion = JBoss?

Unless I am sleeping through a long weekend of potential retirement from the office furniture industry, I seem to be recognizing an argument for Oracle to own JBoss:

http://www.infoworld.com/article/06/02/13/75301_HNellisonrationale_1.html

Thats like taking away a child from me (which is not self-imposed), and I can thank my long lost colleague, RS, for such a stunt. They of course would be pulling a major coup in the open source ranks, but it would hardly cause a murmor over at BEAS.

Oracle is about as much about standards as IBM, they have the resources to populate conferences and boards, but their products tell a different story. Fusion is Proprietary, always will be. The only option for Oracle is WebLogic. Maybe BEA will sell it for a couple $B, and concentrate on Aqua Logic. Either way, BEA should be counter-proposing right about now to risk obsolescence. Sounds contradictory. It is, but it makes sense from opposing angles.

From Oracle's side, JBoss will not bring app server dominance. Only WebLogic can bring that kind of impact. From BEA's side though, they would be left in the cold without a systems vendor to partner with (except MSFT, perhaps?), and this could be a death knell.

I think Ellison is going after BEA and is offering bait to bring them in. I don't see Marc selling out for anything less than a cool $1 B. Even at that price, he is selling his soul. The next week may just be the beginning of the end for proprietary app servers, and the introduction of the middleware war. However, it will not come as a result of JBoss acquisition.

Rather, it is now BEAS' turn to meet the same fate as PSFT and Siebel...

posted by douglas dooley @ 11:42 AM 0 comments

GWB

"Get out of Iraqi, by cracky," in the growingly famous words of Peter M. Wege, from GRR, I have found a mantra. It appears at the fringe of reality, and the outskirts of relevance, but it is now what I have come to accept as the only rational response. This is not about a war of belief, but a practical decision of tactics, and there can be made an argument that the best course of action for the future of Iraq, and Middle East stability, is for a removal of steady terms of troops from the desert of Mesopotamia. I believe everything that GWB has stood for and all that has been accomplished will be lost in the shuffle, that will be everything short of impeachment. This is not my MI response due to JC, though that has brought it even more crystal to my mind, as the time ticks away. Policy is the cause of removal, not the exhaustion of death, and I have now ventured in to an area that I previously did not understand fully. None of us do, none of us will for some time, and that is why I have trusted GWB.

But it has become a more strategic alternative to "cut and run" than it is to fight till the last drop can be spilled. I understand I may be incorrect, and I appreciate that I may not be informed enough, but I have typically found that simplicity of logic leads to optimal ends, and in this case, it is time to recognize the opportunity of Iraq, rather than the failure, and withdraw troops, while gaining economic means to fulfill humanistic goals.

The doctrine of the declaration of determination now applies over there, as it applies here...

posted by douglas dooley @ 12:01 PM 0 comments