[Opensource] Maturing Framework market

[James Higginbotham]

Hi,

Background - I have written my own web framework before Struts came out, and 
have since adopted Struts and other open source and closed frameworks.

>I see the architectural framework market in a shakeout period. I think what
>happens to a market when open source products are more mature than their
>commercial counterparts (I propose due to the fast evolution of the 
>software
>with the open source community development process) is that commercial
>framework companies cannot survive and the company disappears or shifts
>emphasis to service. I propose that we can see that happening now.

This can be very true. Think of JBoss - now, they are a service company 
through and through, yet they are producing a very solid app server at no 
cost and with great doco. They and other closed/cheap app servers have shown 
that app servers are a commodity (big statement here, but I believe it), and 
forced folks like WebLogic to add value on top. So, just like any market, 
the company has to adapt as it changes or go out of business (like those you 
mentioned).

>
>Here are a few very recent developments in the framework arena that you can
>check out on theserverside.com.
>	- altoweb has closed it doors (out of business)
>	- realMethods opened sourced its framework (GPL so no good for
>commercial dev) - with some less than favourable comments on the code.

The key here, IMO, is that building a company off of a framework is bad, 
tired .com thinking. People want solutions, not frameworks, in their 
commercial selections. I was involved with the development of a web 
framework pre-Struts and was able to use that in our sales dealings to 
secure 11-12 accounts with it for the foundation. Obviously, our staff was 
more experienced with it and it kept us from redoing lots of the framework 
features for each client. It is a means to a solution, not the solution 
though and we didn't make a commercial offering with it beyond services.

James

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