Oracle put out an FAQ that said it will continue ''evolving'' GlassFish Enterprise Server. At the same time, it said it would continue to support open-source NetBeans alongside its JDeveloper offerings. GlassFish Enterprise Server will be delivered as the open source reference implementation (RI) of the Java Enterprise Edition (Java EE) specifications, according to Oracle. The company’s word on MySQL: It will spend more on developing it than Sun did. http://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/soa-talk/as-oracle-swallows-sun-mysql-netbeans-and-glassfish-not-in-danger/ Does this bode anything? What do you think?

I really hope Netbeans survives after the dust settles. I was a Netbeans user in the old days, left in disgust at how bloated and slow it as. I came back to Netbeans about two years ago and its been a pleasure. I for one am worried about whether Oracle will maintain two competing products. I just hope that Netbeans continues development at the same rate.

I think that in the short period it would be difficult for Oracle to suspend any big activity by Sun as it would loose part of the splendid opensource community that is one of the best value that Sun has earned in these years. So, having competing products will be, in my opinion, an almost obliged choose. But I can't say what will come in the long period, when it's normal to think to optimizazion, to confluence of competing products into one.

I think their strategy is to follow IBM. Having Eclipse to be open source and use that to support the enterprise development kit WSAD, this can eliminate some of the R&D cost in developing next release of IDE.

GlassFish... ...yawn...

Oracle is paying a significant sum to acquire Sun and will look to extract as much value from the deal as possible. That value includes revenue streams, customers/community as well as core technology. GlassFish scores well on community and technology front. Particularly since GFv3 based on an OSGi core is probably a direction that Oracle would like to take its app server strategy. Similarly, NetBeans has a loyal and growing community. Saying this, having 3 app server bases and 2 Java IDEs represent a business expense that will be hard to justify in the mid-term. Harder still when those new additions do not generate large revenue streams on their own. Also, integrating technologies of this size and complexity can be extremely disruptive, prone to failure and distracts from the main purpose of competing in the marketplace. So I would say that although these recent messages from Oracle are welcome, showing that they are being open to preserving some great technology, what will really count is how the product teams approach the next phase of detailed planning, post completion i.e. the jury is still out and will be for some time.

Saying this, having 3 app server bases and 2 Java IDEs represent a business expense that will be hard to justify in the mid-term.

Indeed, 3 app servers is really over the top. I do wonder which one people consider the best of those three. I used Orion in the past, as this was the only AS that didn't crash when under load, but have no idea if it's still considered a top contender these days. Glassfish is of course a lot in the picture, since it's the only AS that immediately implements Java EE 6. Don't really know about weblogic, since I have never used it.

Saying this, having 3 app server bases and 2 Java IDEs represent a business expense that will be hard to justify in the mid-term.

I would fully expect Oracle to phase out 2 of these app servers and condense thier offering into one single product at some point in the future. Tom

I would fully expect Oracle to phase out 2 of these app servers and condense thier offering into one single product at some point in the future

IBM has two: WAS and WAS Community Edition (which is basically a packaged geronimo). I think orion would eventually be left apart and two will remain. But: someone knows how WAS CE is going? Is there someone who actually uses it? Ciao, Raffaele

But: someone knows how WAS CE is going? Is there someone who actually uses it?

I have the same question really. WAS CE or Apache Geronimo look quite nice on paper. A complete open source implementation of Java EE under a liberal license, from the same guys that brought us the award winning Tomcat and the Apache HTTP server. It's also the only app server that implements an independent JSF implementation. So, I strongly acknowledge the importance of Apache Geronimo. But... every time I look at usage statistics, Geronimo or WAS CE is rounded down to 0% usage. I haven't seen really recent statistics though, so I would love to see some updated ones, but still... who actually uses Geronimo???

Saying this, having 3 app server bases and 2 Java IDEs represent a business expense that will be hard to justify in the mid-term.

I would fully expect Oracle to phase out 2 of these app servers and condense thier offering into one single product at some point in the future.

Tom

But which two ones are most likely to get the axe?

Oracle can take a gradual steps from 2010-2020 to merge the Sun's primary line but duplicated products such as AS, IDE, etc. NetBeans looks better than JDeveloper but AS is tough to handle for Oracle. BOTTOM LINE is Oracle at any point must not go away from Sun's innovative works on Java and Solaris. Hope also Oracle will not easily loose the community base earned by Sun.

I think most of their promises are pretty weak! They never said that they will make NetBeans the goto platform for RCA, or that they aspire for Glassfish to be the No. 1 Application Server! They will continue their development and support, nothing suggest they won't be second class citizens inside Oracle! Anyway, "que sera, sera" whatever will be, will be!

At the same time, it said it would continue to support open-source NetBeans alongside its JDeveloper offerings.

It's hard not to notice they never said they were committing to monetarily supporting NetBeans strategically, or that they see it as a viable entity. They specifically talk about throwing money at other Sun products, and then carefully tread around NetBeans with "committed to choice" and "complement" language. I find it hard to read anything into this type of language but a flat-line 'leave it alone' strategy. I don't see anything in terms of evolutionary support.

"...developers will be able to use whichever free tool they are most comfortable with for pure Java and Java EE development: JDeveloper, Enterprise Pack for Eclipse, or NetBeans."

This is true right now, and does not in my mind show any vote of confidence for NetBeans.