I had the same exact experience as the original poster:
1) heard JBoss is great
2) Downloaded and installed
3) Could not make it run in 1 week due to poor documentation
4) Told my boss, let's go with JRun, save $$ and sanity both
I can say only the same thing I said before. Comoditizing the app server market is a great idea. (Regardless of what I am thinking, the arrival of JBoss has already changed that.)
However, without the good, no GREAT docs, it is absurdly naive to think that something like JBoss can get wide acceptance. If you want to comoditize the market but you're to scared to take the plunge and make both a great product and the manual both available, you're just going to end up frustrating people.
Remember that Perl and Linux was the domain of the "true" geeks until some serious Linux manuals and O'Reilly Perl books? Now both are comoditizing their respective market niches, esp. in regards to Linux vs. M$FT. Larry Wall realized that for wide acceptance of a product or idea, no matter how great, YOU NEED GOOD DOCS. I emphasize again, that I would not mind paying for the "Camel Book" style manual for JBoss. In fact, let me know when it comes out, so I can sign up for the advanced copy!!
This has always been the problem with the free software movement, not just JBoss. It is the elitist thinking that unless you are planning to invest 2 weeks to make something work and "figure it out" (and maybe gcc compile it from scratch and get some special libraries...) you do not deserve to use it.
This is a little like me posting some code to help someone here, but obfuscating the variable names, logic, and removing all the comments. If you can figure it out, then you deserve to use it. This is BS. Pure and simple. Would I rather be with my girlfriend or installing JBoss after hours?
JBoss group would be better off becoming something like Red Hat, then doing the half-way measures that they are doing right now, like charging for the poor PDF docs they have.
Go JBoss! Let's get some good docs!
Greg
-----Original Message-----
From: Saurabh [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Tuesday, October 22, 2002 10:53 PM
To: JDJList
Subject: [jdjlist] Re: JBOSS vs the rest
i thinkits the easiest j2ee app server to use..consumes the least amt of
memory....has the coolest hot deployment..
...has killer j2ee tech features...runs like the breeze...and best of
all....ITS FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!...the documentaion can be a bit exhausting i
agree..but that is hardly a trade-off..
anyway..everyman to his poison..as they say....
cheers,
saurabh
----- Original Message -----
From: "Scot Mcphee" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "JDJList" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Wednesday, October 23, 2002 10:55 AM
Subject: [jdjlist] JBOSS vs the rest
>
> Anyone got any views on the use of JBoss as a J2EE application server
> versus, just about anything else? I have prior experience of Websphere,
and
> also JBoss 2.4. I have been looking at a new system and running it based
on
> JBoss 3.0, until this afternoon.
>
> I just spent 2 days reading the big ugly monolithic Jboss PDF that we got
> the subscription for. I must say that I am less than impressed with the
> documentation. It's like you want to build a skyscraper, and you're given
a
> manual about steel fabrication and various types of rivets in use today.
In
> response to the 'what to do about earthquakes' question you are referred
to
> a book on geology, and the jumbo-strike section has a URL to the 747
service
> manual. I always thought I was pretty good on handling conceptual detail,
I
> don't know quite whether it's me or the product. I mean, I understand J2EE
> well enough to design things like scheduling and calendering and financial
> trading systems.
>
> I hate to be harsh, because I like the idea that that JBoss doesn't cost
> $10,000, and up until this point served us pretty well. Maybe it is just
me.
> For all it's niceness and freeness, I really don't think JBoss is a proper
> production system.
>
> Because of this unproductive use of my time I went and promptly downloaded
> Macromedia JRun, which I evaluated previously. And I got the basic stuff
> working an afternoon, and can now start to consider how to re-engineer the
> application correctly. It's priced very reasonably and seeing I saved the
> company an enormous amount of money by switching the developers to Eclipse
> from JBuilder I think I have a little extra in the kitty. (Although
frankly
> the two days I just wasted far outstrip the price of JRun).
>
> I just get the feeling that all the pretty web configuration tools and
stuff
> really do add something, even to experienced developers. Or maybe it's
just
> documentation focussed on tasks. Or a sales model that sells product, not
> information.
>
> Any views and thoughts would be appreciated.
>
> regs
> scot.
>
> ___________________________________________
> Scot Mcphee - Snr Developer
> - (mobile) +61-412-957414
> ___________________________________________
> Tigerex - http://www.tigerex.net
> - (bus) +61-2-82593613
> ___________________________________________
>
>
>
> ____________________________________________________
> To change your JDJList options, please visit:
> http://www.sys-con.com/java/list.cfm
>
> Be respectful! Clean up your posts before replying
> ____________________________________________________
>
>
________________________________________________________________________
This communication is for the exclusive use of the intended recipient(s) and shall not
attach any liability on the originator or ITIL/its Holding Company/Subsidiaries/Group
Companies. If you are the addressee, the contents of this e-mail are intended for your
use only and it shall not be forwarded to any third party, without first obtaining written
authorization from the originator or ITIL/its Holding Company/Subsidiaries/Group
Companies. It may contain information which is confidential and legally privileged and
the same shall not be used or dealt with by any third party in any manner whatsoever
without the specific consent of ITIL/its Holding Company/Subsidiaries/Group Companies.
____________________________________________________
To change your JDJList options, please visit:
http://www.sys-con.com/java/list.cfm
Be respectful! Clean up your posts before replying
____________________________________________________
To change your JDJList options, please visit:
http://www.sys-con.com/java/list.cfm
Be respectful! Clean up your posts before replying
____________________________________________________
