IBM has broadened its developerWorks Toolbox subscription service with new products and a new cheap starter level that includes Websphere studio, application server, DB2 and more. Similar to MSDN, this service allows you to pay a yearly fee for CD or download access to most of IBM's software.

Read : IBM aims developerWorks toolkit at SMBs, and check out DeveloperWorks Toolbox.

With the Javaworld subscription issue for archives, and now IBM..are the days of freebies over for us Java folks? Well, we still have the strong Apache Software Foundation!

This is a different stuff! This is good because the subscription give you full licenses for some IBM software products. You can save money.

Bye.

Massimo Santin

Close to $2000 for subscription that includes an IDE that a professional would like to have in his/her toolkit? The subscription that include WS Studio 5 is pricey.


Especially considering that Eclipse is free, and WS Studio is based on Eclipse. Am I missing something?

I think if you use WS Studio Application Developer, you won't need to install WS App. Server, because it provides you with the environment of the app. server. You won't get that in Eclipse, won't you?

<> Are Days of free stuff over?<>

IBM's move like MSDN seems to look better than an esoteric J2EE vendors who charge as much as $10,000 for educational licenses.

Shouldn't it be free atleast for educational stuff?I have heard SUN,IBM and BEA offering funding and free licenses to Universities and associated laboratories.


http://www.pramati.com/partner/edu_training/index.htm
http://www.pramati.com/docstore/2060009/prg_edu.pdf

Manoj Shirke

This subscription has been available for a few years.

It has 3 levels the lowest being free.

What one gets for 2K is incredible. BTW, it was discounted greatly late last year.

Things not available with Eclipse:

XML\XSL editor.
EJB development tool.
GUI development tool.

Will any of Rational products included in future ?
Any idea ?

Hot damn! if they had a subscription that had rational tools, J2EE server, DB2 database, and IDE, that would be some sweeeeet juice. Definitely something i'd look at to get my horizon broadened.

-Chris

It might be good to notice that in licence text IBM restricts the use of Toolbox in commercial projects.

We asked IBM if this restriction means that we are not allowed to use Toolbox software to develope software in our customer projects (we are an IT-company) and the answer was no. According to IBM we can use Toolbox software to evaluate and test IBM products (like Websphere Studio etc.), but we cannot use the for commercial purposes.

From our point this makes Toolbox pretty much useless and doesn't really save any money because we can download most of the software for evaluation purposes anyway.

Licence: http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/toolbox/language/iplaen.html
(4) Usage

        You may only use the Offering for the sole purposes of developing, testing, demonstrating and evaluating application Programs. The Offering may not be used for production use or deployed for any other purposes. Testing, as defined in this Agreement, only includes the use of the Offering Programs with simulated test data for verification of an application prior to the deployment or sale of the application. Testing, as defined in this Agreement, does NOT include the use of the Offering
Programs: with production data, with operational data, in a pre-production environment, or in a staging environment.