Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Is Microsoft .Net better than JBoss SEAM?

Better is subjective and is like the Olympic Pentathlon, where athletes compete in five track and field events. .Net is the Microsoft web development environment and JBoss SEAM is an open-source Java environment. I use another environment which I consider better. One of the most powerful development methods is to use script (JavaScript) and server side processing combined with a generic and powerful server language (C#, ASP, etc.). This is the way Google built Web 2.0 applications until last year. Google abandoned this method and embraced open-source Java. The reason is that writing code is only one event and the above method does not scale well to a large development group. If you have a small development group then you want to win that event. Large development groups must balance events so they win the pentathlon. IT departments see JBoss SEAM as well rounded in promoting standards, communication, and management. .Net programmers are happier programmers (based on blog communities), but Microsoft gave in some on the management and organization to win over developers. So which delivers a better product? I am not sure. IT management and not developers increasingly make the decision on what platform to use. This means platforms like JBoss SEAM are winning adoption. I think that over the next three years that the different aspects of development will become less dependent on each other. Meaning that IT will not need to commit to one platform and instead combine different tools and methods. That means that JBoss SEAM and .Net could both be best.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I am sure IT managers look at price point as well. We have a "Legacy" program at work that an IT manager told us yesterday that they will not support. So, we asked what could they supply as a equally capable (or better!) replacement? Well, they are supposed to get back to us.

Arrrggggghhhh...