>> Serious question. When I talk to people who are working in the J2EE space
>> they are usually very very critical of Websphere as an application server
>> platform. Can somebody explain why nearly all the J2EE work in the
>> Netherlands for instance requires Websphere experience? Why is Websphere so
>> popular in Europe?
>
> ibm + politics
Well, that's the short answer. The slightly less short answer
is that big companies don't invest in technologies, they invest in
relationships. IBM went from being king of the hill in the 70s to
being an underdog, and reinvented themselves as a service-oriented
company. Part of why this was so successful for them was they were
already very much a relationship-oriented company to begin with.
So the thoughts running through the CIO's head as he decides that
the company is going with websphere even though all his engineers are
saying it sucks and they should go with something else are:
a) this may not be the 70s, but "nobody ever got fired for buying
IBM" is still a pretty sure bet
b) maybe _websphere_ isn't the best product, but IBM is our best
vendor; they've pulled my ashes out of the fire a dozen times before
and I know I can count on them to come through for me again.
As cynical as I'd like to be, and as much as I'm impressed with
some of the alternatives (like BEA, or Bluestone, or for the smaller
budget, Orion), I have to recognize that this is not entirely a bad
approach. I'd much rather trust people than products.
Steven J. Owens
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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