Java Reference
In-Depth Information
Appendix III: Open Source Development
Separating the hype from reality isn't easy when it comes to
Open Source. Not only has it become the technological
buzzword, but it has also become the epicenter of a great deal
of controversy: from copyright laws and intellectual property
debates to freedom of speech and arguments about
free-market competition. The J2EE market has evolved
swiftly, first by going through a phase of consolidation and
now by entering a phase of commoditization. This second
phase has been driven largely by the fact that in order to show
value, application server vendors can no longer rely on their
core application server. This has created a market of
value-added offerings, particularly in the area of development
tools and development productivity. Many Open Source tools
and frameworks showcased in this topic are in this category.
Open Source is also changing the way programming is being
studied in universities around the world; new generations of
programmers leaving academia and entering the workplace
have either used or contributed to Open Source. Students
nowadays can learn by examining enterprise-level software
that displays contributions from a great many sources from
around the world.
At corporate IT departments worldwide, programmers are
rallying behind Open Source projects like Ant, JUnit, Tomcat,
and JBoss. Though the battle for the acceptance of Open
Source has been largely fought at the level of the programmer
and middle management, upper management, given the recent
impact of Linux on corporations, is beginning to see the many
advantages
of
Open
Source,
especially
in
the
area
of
