October 20, 2006
No WebSphere Support for Java EE 5 until 2008
When Sun released the Java EE 5 spec in May this year I was encouraged by the improvements, particularly EJB 3.0 and JPA.
Now, via InfoQ, I read that IBM does not plan to support Java EE 5 in WebSphere Application Server until 2008. Ironically, the Dr Dobb's article reporting this intention is entitled "App Server Powers Race To Embed Java EE 5 Support". Because WebSphere is the market leader it is not surprising that many solution providers are delaying their plans to support Java EE 5.
Given that the Java EE 5 spec was two years in the making and it is likely that there will be a delay of at least a further two years before the market leader supports the spec, is it any wonder that there is growing interest in alternative open source solutions?
Posted to Software Development by Keith PittyWebSphere is the market leader in what sense? It doesn't have the most marketshare (JBoss according to BZ Research and others). It isn't the farthest ahead in the specs (Glassfish). It isn't leading innovation (JBoss for some things, WebLogic for others). It doesn't even run on the most platforms (and I'd guess it runs on the fewest by far as it is generally tied to IBM's JDK). It has even lost its edge in enterprise robustness if you will (JBoss acquired Arjuna, BEA has Tuxedo). Moreover, while IBM should have a natural lead in tooling being the grandaddy of Eclipse, you'll find both Sun and BEA have impressive leads in functionality here. So market leader in what sense?
Posted by: Andy at October 20, 2006 1:48 PMAndy, I was referring to market share. Admittedly I don't have references to recent analyst reports to support my statement that WebSphere is "market leader" in terms of market share (although, unless I'm mistaken, I recall hearing Gavin King refer to WebSphere as the "market leader" in a recent talk about Seam).
Anyway, regardless of who considers which vendor is the market leader, it is fair to say that WebSphere has a very significant share of the market. So I think my point about it's delay in supporting Java EE 5 resulting in people looking at open source alternatives still holds.
Posted by: Keith at October 20, 2006 2:22 PMAndy, you mentioned BZ Research. I found a reference to this on Richard Monson-Haefel's blog (see http://rmh.blogs.com/weblog/2006/05/bz_research_on_.html). This shows WebSphere and JBoss as joint leaders in December 2005 in terms of market share.
Posted by: Keith at October 20, 2006 2:52 PMThis link explains everything: IBM Song Book.
Posted by: Alan Green at October 23, 2006 6:35 AM