JBoss 4.0 released, tiff with Sun continues

BANGALORE: JBoss Group has launched the developer edition of JBoss4.0. Version 4.0. JBoss group says that the new product provides a range of services that were previously unavailable in any J2EE application server. The new services are enabled by the Java application server industry’s first implementation of an aspect-oriented programming (AOP) framework.

JBoss is a Java-based open source application server. The company also claims that the product “supports” the J2EE 1.3 specification, enabling rapid porting of other J2EE-based applications to the free JBoss server. However, the company has not cleared the J2EE-compatibility tests, which certify that a Java application written for one J2EE application server will run on other J2EE-compatible application servers. Sun and JBoss have been interacting with each other since March over the compliance issue, but have only managed to reach stalemate over the compliance issue.

Corporate acceptance despite warnings from Sun

Sun has warned that developers who are working with JBoss might just find themselves stuck to a proprietary platform. But JBoss has garnered some corporate acceptance.

FCCI Insurance Group, a commercial property and casualty provider throughout the Southeast and Midwest United States, is using JBoss exclusively to run internal and external systems, from a project works tracking system to an insurance rating program. Steve Goldsmith, application software development supervisor, and Rhett Aultman, applications software developer, have evaluated JBoss 4.0 and say that the new capabilities provided by JBoss 4.0 are of interest to the company.

"We’ve seen JBoss gain acceptance in the marketplace," said Pierre Fricke, executive VP at D.H. Brown Associates. "JBoss is a popular platform for developers and its open

source development process and cost make it attractive."