This post originated from an RSS feed registered with Java Buzz by Simon Brown. Original Post: Oracle appserver version numbering is confusing Feed Title: Simon Brown's weblog Feed URL: http://www.simongbrown.com/blog/feed.xml?flavor=rss20&category=java Feed Description: My thoughts on Java, software development and technology. Latest Java Buzz Posts Latest Java Buzz Posts by Simon Brown Latest Posts From Simon Brown's weblog

I've been looking at Oracle's appserver over the past few days, with reference to which version to use on a project. If you've ever looked at Oracle AS then you'll know how confusing the version numbers really are. If not, here's a summary of my understanding.

• OC4J (originally based on Orion) is Oracle's J2EE container.
• OC4J is shipped in two versions - a standalone version and one that is embedded in the appserver product.
• 9iAS (release 2) contains OC4J 9.0.3 (J2EE 1.3).
• There is a developer preview of OC4J 9.0.4 (still J2EE 1.3) but this is standalone from 9iAS.
• 10gAS contains OC4J 9.0.4 (notice the 9.x.y numbering, still J2EE 1.3).
• There is a developer preview of OC4J 10.0.3 (J2EE 1.4).
• The official production release of 10gAS with OC4J 10.0.3 (J2EE 1.4) is scheduled for Q4, 2004.

I've not looked at many of the other products that are included in the appserver stack, but why on earth did Oracle choose to rebrand 9i into 10g? The J2EE container seems to be a bug fix release and there are small enhancements to some of the other products (e.g. Portal) in the stack. Moving from 9i to 10g sounds like a huge step, when in reality it's probably not, certainly if you are only interested in J2EE anyway. Very confusing.