Commercial Java Server startup

Robert S. Thau (rst@ai.mit.edu)
Wed, 4 Jun 1997 16:37:50 -0400 (EDT)


Rohit Khare writes:
> Looks like they've rolled a bunch of parts into one, but it reflects the
> ease of integrating on top of a fresh computing base, like Jigsaw...
> Robert, what are your reactions?

It looks to me like these guys have *some* of the right ideas. In
particular, integration with whatever commercial db that the client
already has is pretty much a requirement. However, it isn't enough
just to talk to the right db... you also have to be able to at least
converse intelligibly with whatever structure the client has already
built on top of it. (Failure in this regard is one of the things that
makes philg froth at the mouth at the wrongheadedness of Netscape's
current server offerings).

However, as I've mentioned to you before, there is an enormous hole in
content management for dynamic sites (which basically means anyone
who's doing anything at all interesting these days), and it isn't
clear at least from this brief writeup what (if anything) these guys
are doing to fill it.

In sum --- this could be a very interesting offering, *if* they've
paid attention to interoperability considerations with *everything*
that their target market already has. If not, they have a tough row
to hoe, particularly with a bunch of better-established competitors
(Netscape, Lotus, et al.) trying to establish a presence in the same
space.

rst