IBM Glues the Code from JBoss

IBM Glues the Code from JBoss

In the midst of the IBM/Gluecode deal there is some JBoss code up for grabs. As Hani points out in his bileblog, there is possibility that the ex-jboss gluecode guys could hand over their JBoss copyrights to IBM. This would create a problem for JBoss because IBM will now own at least a 20% portion of the code. The reactions to the IBM/Gluecode deal have been coming in from the JBoss guys and Bob Bickel extended the following comments from his blog based on this article.

IBM announced it has acquired Gluecode. In so doing, IBM is acknowledging the overwhelming momentum behind open source in general and the success of JBoss in particular.
What we at JBoss see every day is that CIOs want to create strategies around open source. They increasingly trust it to run their core business applications and the technology is available today to support mission-critical deployments. IBM’s embrace of open source will be a shot in the arm for JBoss and the rest of the open source movement.
At the same time, IBM’s acquisition is an overtly defensive move (http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/10/technology/10blue.html). JBoss is being adopted so rapidly and in such volume (BZ Research reports increases in market usage for JBoss from 13% to 26% to 34% over the past 3 years in terms of production usage) that it is becoming, in effect, the next Linux at the middleware layer. This naturally makes WebSphere (IBM was at 33% in the same study by BZ Research) the next Solaris.
IBM has in many ways welcomed Linux, but is hostile toward open source products that may affect the cash cow that is the WebSphere business. This intent of the acquisition, we believe, is to slow down JBoss and to try, with Geronimo, to capture the high-volume J2EE space.
But IBM is betting on unproven technology. Today, JBoss is the high-volume J2EE leader. The JBoss ecosystem is active and enormous, and as a result we’ve got great technology. We intend to keep our open and large community and ecosystem happy and thriving.
IBM customers should be wary of a potential bait and switch ­of IBM suggesting Geronimo for low-end deployments, then pushing WebSphere to do the heavy lifting. This is also creating issues for customers and partners who may feel pressured to support yet another application server. We question how robust Geronimo can be given that its backing has primarily come from Gluecode, a company that’s been known for some time to be in financial trouble and lacking in community support (Less than 100 posts in 7 months of existence compared to 3,000 per month on the JBoss forums- http://www.gluecode.com/forums/index.jspa). Geronimo is obviously not J2EE certified. It is obviously low-end. It obviously is not tracking the EJB3 spec. Gluecode has written far less code (for example, in Q4 of last year Geronimo had 800 total new commits, while JBoss had over 7,000). Geronimo also does not offer customers the full vision of the JBoss Enterprise Middleware System.
JBoss customers and partners have a single, unified, always free license to our software. JBoss users will not be presented with what we anticipate will be a forced trade up from Geronimo to WebSphere. JBoss software is capable of running high-end applications; Geronimo is not. And JBoss does not force customers to purchase expensive long-term contracts. Frankly, we question whether IBM's dual interests will keep Geronimo from reaching the full capabilities of open source that JBoss has reached.
It will be interesting to hear IBM articulate a strategy on how they merge WebSphere and Geronimo and handle Gluecode’s dual-licensing strategy. IBM will also need to explain its strategy for the Gluecode Portal and IBM’s products in this area.
JBoss will continue to work with IBM Global Services and the IBM Hardware teams because of strong customer demand. We will also continue to work with IBM on various standards.
Overall, we see this as a move that should clarify things for customers and partners: open source is the here and now. Companies are implementing open source middleware­ - not just Linux­ today. The JBoss ecosystem (contributors, partners, customers, users) is central to that movement and will continue to be the technology and market leader for open source middleware.

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Comments

Comment I read that blogspot article and I don't get it. What is the $96.5 for?

Fri Jul 8, 2005 2:41 pm MST by Johanne Whitaker

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