"Open-source software has already shaken up the operating systems business. Now, Java server software makers are feeling the tremors," says a News.com article by Martin LaMonica.
Adoption of open-source application servers appears to be mirroring the grassroots support that propelled Linux into corporations. Programmers often develop and test customized business applications using open-source tools and then run them on commercial or open-source Java application servers and databases.
Open source has yet to significantly penetrate the entrenched positions of powerful companies such as BEA Systems, IBM and Oracle. But the growing popularity of open-source alternatives, coupled with products becoming commodities and a prolonged IT budget squeeze, are threatening to reshape the application server software market.
What do you think of this trend in the app server marketplace? Can open source kill a market? Or is commoditization going to happen anyway?
I don't really feel too bad for BEA and the like. We use Resin which costs 1/20 as much, has better documentation and better support. The same I'm sure can be said of the Tomcat and JBoss communities.
Perhaps this will force the big commercial companies to improve their services (beyond a flashy website) and lower their prices.
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