Why JBoss?

[Saeed Amer]

Open-source software is in abundance these days. Every now and then, we hear about new open-source products - especially for J2EE development/deployment. And in some ways, it is making the life of J2EE developers a bit difficult as they have to keep learning and learning about these new products .

But regardless, my question is "why would someone pickup JBoss instead of other �proprietary� App Servers available from vendors like IBM, BEA, etc"? I work for a large multinational company with offices world wide but they always opt to buy vs. downloading open-source software products.

So, what is it that someone could do to convince the decision-maker to pick JBoss over other App servers?

TIA!

Saeed
[ July 20, 2005: Message edited by: Saeed Amer ]

[sunitha reghu]

Answer is ***money***

Open source=**free**

[Paul Sturrock]

Originally posted by Saeed Amer:

So, what is it that someone could do to convince the decision-maker to pick JBoss over other web servers?

JBoss (AS) is an Application Server, not a web server.

[norman richards]

JBoss ..

works better
is much cheaper
has better support

[sergio mendez-rueda]

So, what is it that someone could do to convince the decision-maker to pick JBoss over other App servers?

Hi,
there are a lot of wonderful open-source projects(JBoss, Hibernate, Spring), and their support is not NULL.
The big shots think: no one is fired because she(or he) go to Bed
with IBM (Web logic JRun etcetera). Open-source??? no idea!!!
It is a schizophrenia, the big shots "do it" costly, but what
count is to "do it" cheap and right.
About JBoss-support: the reaction-time of JBoss breaks
the general relativity theory!!!
-----------------
`Once,` said the Mock Turtle at last, with a deep sigh, `I was
a real Turtle.`
`Well, then,` the Gryphon went on, `if you don't know what to
uglify is, you ARE a simpleton.`
--Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

[somkiat puisungnoen]

Originally posted by Sunitha Raghu:
Answer is ***money***

Open source=**free**

Open Source not free, you must have knowledge in OpenSource [ Learning Curve, Document, Maintain, Bug .... ]

So, you must have plan HOW TO USE in each OpenSource Software... before use it.

[sunitha reghu]

Did I say if i use opensource everything(documentation etc) will get injected to my brain for free.

According to my knowledge JBoss will charge for support.

[Lasse Koskela]

We have to keep in mind that there's two kinds of support: community support and paid support. Some companies are more interested in one, others in the other.

[norman richards]

Community support is nice, but many companies require more reliable pay support. That is what Professional Open Source is all about. JBoss has always been a popular server, but it didn't start getting real penetration into big/serious companies until there was a viable company behind it providing the level of service required. It was the professional support options that made JBoss #1 in app server marketshare.

[Kishore Dandu]

Originally posted by norman richards:
JBoss ..

works better
is much cheaper
has better support

I agree only with the second line.

I have worked with both JBoss and Weblogic. They have relative advantages/dis-advantages when we talk about 'works better' and 'has better support'.

[Sam Griffith]

I too work with both. Additionally at work, we use the full WebLogic Platform and from my perspective, JBoss is easier to cluster, install, configure, customize and run. Does it have as many "extra" features as WebLogic or WebSphere for that matter? No, but it is a full 1.4 Certified J2EE app server and it is a leader with Oracle in adopting and implementing new standards like EJB3. There's many reasons to use JBoss and take it seriously, but one of the top ones is that it runs everywhere you have a J2SE SDK. WebLogic and WebSphere don't. If you want all the "extras" then maybe you want WL or WS, but if you want what is arguably the most powerful, flexible and up-to-date app server out today, then JBoss is the one to beat.

[norman richards]

Works "better" is certainly debatable. I don't think there is any way you could say one of the others has better support. JBoss support is consistently rated as the best among the app server vendors by customers who have experience with support from various vendors.

But, I'll take it that most comparisons are subjective.

[Paul Sturrock]

Originally posted by norman richards:
Works "better" is certainly debatable. I don't think there is any way you could say one of the others has better support. JBoss support is consistently rated as the best among the app server vendors by customers who have experience with support from various vendors.

But, I'll take it that most comparisons are subjective.

Hmm. Definately better than WebSphere in my experience, and JBoss support is very good. But if you understand "support" to be more than just the help you can pay for, then WebLogic wins hands down. BEA go to great lengths to support their product through good documentation, whereas JBoss's documentation (even the stuff you pay for) is fairly poor. Which is a good thing if you happen to have written a guide to JBoss...

[norman richards]

I'm wondering if you've used the JBoss documentation in the last year. There is no "pay" documentation and hasn't been for quite some time. In addition to improving the core docs and keeping them updated for each release, we've also added a huge wiki for more in depth issues and are increasing the amount of tutorial code we have.

I can understand that some people might feel uncomfortable with the less formal documentation approach, but I think the JBoss docs are off on the right track. Combine that with the great training offerings and the clearly superior technical support and I my (obviously biased) opinion is that JBoss is in a very good position. But, there is always room for improvement, and you are right that the docs still need a LOT of improvement.

[Muhammad Umair]

where can i find some free ebooks related to JBoss

[Lasse Koskela]

Originally posted by Muhammad Umair:
where can i find some free ebooks related to JBoss

I'm pretty sure that all JBoss books are listed on the website (including the freely available online documentation).

[Paul Sturrock]

Originally posted by norman richards:
I'm wondering if you've used the JBoss documentation in the last year. There is no "pay" documentation and hasn't been for quite some time. In addition to improving the core docs and keeping them updated for each release, we've also added a huge wiki for more in depth issues and are increasing the amount of tutorial code we have.

Not in the last year, you are right - we are limited by clients using older versions of JBoss so have had no need. I just noticed that the docs now available free for 322 are pretty much the ones we paid for nearly two years ago. That's a bit irritating.
[ July 22, 2005: Message edited by: Paul Sturrock ]

[Sam Griffith]

Norman can verify this, but the docs are being expanced and revised as new versions come out. They are not going back to revise docs for older versions, so to see the progress, you need to look at the new docs for 4.0 and above and watch as things go forward. Also as Norman mentioned in another posting, you need to look at the information on the Wiki as well.

[Dave Salter]

I agree with you Sam, the docs on the JBoss web site and Wiki are very good.

IMHO, the JBoss paid support is also very good.

Cheers,

Dave.

[Megs Maquito]

The server that I helped put together uses Tomcat, I use Tomcat for mvnforum. mvnforum will run on JBoss what are the pros and cons of both?

TIA