Sunday, September 09, 2007
Will BEA make WebLogic Open Source?
Figured I would share several unconfirmed rumors regarding BEA's future direction...
Remember when folks such as Adam Bosworth worked for BEA? They were really strong into the notion of community when he was around. They sponsored lots of local user groups and make a big push to create not only open standards as part of the Java Community Process but also contributed much of their intellectual capital as well. Sadly, BEA has been without a keeper of the flame when it comes to community orientation.
Now that they have returned to profitability, you will hear announcements over the next couple of weeks how they will be borrowing a couple of pages from the Sun playbook in terms of turning their company towards an open source model. They have come to realize that being 100% closed source in the long run doesn't stimulate the type of innovation required to be viable in today's marketplace.
Rumors have it that the next version of BEA Weblogic Server will become 100% open source and freely available (in terms of cost). Many enterprises nowadays get J2EE containers for free through BEA competitors such as IBM and Oracle as part of larger enterprise deals. Likewise usage of GlassFish, Tomcat, Jetty, Resin and others that have always been free threaten the low-end. This only makes sense.
Rumor also has it that they are working on a lightweight J2EE-based content management platform. On one level, they are jumping into a crowded market while on another this marketplace needs something that is reasonably priced, enterprise scale and has the right underlying architecture. If anyone were to figure out how to get an ECM platform to participate in an SOA right, it most certainly would be BEA...
| | View blog reactionsRemember when folks such as Adam Bosworth worked for BEA? They were really strong into the notion of community when he was around. They sponsored lots of local user groups and make a big push to create not only open standards as part of the Java Community Process but also contributed much of their intellectual capital as well. Sadly, BEA has been without a keeper of the flame when it comes to community orientation.
Now that they have returned to profitability, you will hear announcements over the next couple of weeks how they will be borrowing a couple of pages from the Sun playbook in terms of turning their company towards an open source model. They have come to realize that being 100% closed source in the long run doesn't stimulate the type of innovation required to be viable in today's marketplace.
Rumors have it that the next version of BEA Weblogic Server will become 100% open source and freely available (in terms of cost). Many enterprises nowadays get J2EE containers for free through BEA competitors such as IBM and Oracle as part of larger enterprise deals. Likewise usage of GlassFish, Tomcat, Jetty, Resin and others that have always been free threaten the low-end. This only makes sense.
Rumor also has it that they are working on a lightweight J2EE-based content management platform. On one level, they are jumping into a crowded market while on another this marketplace needs something that is reasonably priced, enterprise scale and has the right underlying architecture. If anyone were to figure out how to get an ECM platform to participate in an SOA right, it most certainly would be BEA...
