Java Reference
In-Depth Information
Tip
JBoss AS, the most used application server - myth or fact?
We just threw the stone so we cannot avoid discussing it. There is a common be-
lief that JBoss AS is the favorite application server of developers. Actually, there
is no empiric way to measure the popularity of open source software; you may
be able to guess it from a number of clues such as the number of downloads and
the amount of registered users in the community.
Evaluating each product's community statistics can however be misleading and
maybe not even be available to all players in this market. Therefore, if we
want to try an approximate comparison, let's move to a neutral field where the
world's most used software—Google—rules. A one-minute search on
Google
trends
that includes as search keywords the other big players (Oracle WebLogic,
IBM WebSphere, and the open source GlassFish application server) reveals
that JBoss AS has the highest trend for 2012 at the time of writing. For more
information on this, visit
http://www.google.com/trends/
We will get similar results if we query for 2011.
Another popular instrument of Google is
Adwords
; it is used to count the search
keywords on a national/worldwide basis. Adwords reveals that JBoss accounts
for 1.220.000 monthly searches on Google while WebSphere stops at 1.000.000,
Oracle WebLogic stays at 823.000, and Glassfish is around 368.000.
So, although these numbers do not provide the last word on our question (nor
do they speak about the quality of the product), they are a good indicator of the
developer's sentiment. A word to the wise is enough!
As with all application servers compliant with Java EE, JBoss ships with all the re-
quired libraries to allow us to develop and deploy Java applications that comply with
Java EE specifications.
