On 05.03.2014, at 12:37, Jürgen Simon <si...@webtecc.com> wrote: > Hello, > > this is not a technical inquiry, more a temperature check on the business > side of WebObjects. It is my impression that at least in Germany, after the > 2008/2009 crisis the market for WebObjects-projects has really been down a > lot. I have been looking hi and lo for opportunities to work with WO again, > but apart from self-initiated projects there was nothing going on. > > Is this perception limited to Germany or is it even just me? Are there any > project marketplaces for WO that I am not aware of? How much of a future > would you guys think WO really has? > > Kind Regards, > Jürgen > >
A (sad) success story: I have an existing customer (large world-wide operating corporation) with some very old WO apps which I maintain. They also have a small app based on D2W with the old neutral look. This app has been created by some JEE folks who had no clue about WO. The app primarily generates product related PDF files from text-snippets stored and maintained in the database. Maintenance of the data is done by the D2W application. The JEE folks were not able to properly use WO and had big performance problems with PDF generation. So they build a library where they access the database with raw JDBC calls (!!) and have an instance of the app running on a dedicated PC somewhere in a corner so to not block the interactive parts. I have since taken over this application and first of all thrown out everything JDBC related. Redesigned the database structure (they had most of the logic in the data instead of in the databse structure), implemented proper management of the product related spec sheets, and re-implemented the whole process of creating the PDFs. There was an external program reading the database regularly looking for changes to the text snippets and product data. Whatever it found got wrapped up into some XML structure and then sent to a remote receiver. This program failed horribly because of my changing the database structures - and nobody really knew how that transfer program worked. So I reverse engineered the composed XML and built this right into the main application. This application has since grown considerably in functionality and is now being used corporate wide for the maintenance of product data and the related spec sheets. As soon as the user commits any changes to the database all the related PDFs are generated right then and there and the changes are automatically transferred to the remote system. Customer is HAPPY! Oh, and what about cost? The customer had an internal offer to recreate everything in-house in their big SAP system. This was waaaay to expensive. Total cost I billed was 1 tenth (!!) of what the internal project would have cost. WO rocks!! Unfortunately corporate IT wants to take over the project and kill it (it doesn't fit in with their strategy), customer is furious but the decisions are made elsewhere. We'll see. Another success story: I am a part time teacher and have tried to cover the module "object oriented development of multiuser database applications" using Wonder. Fortunately the school has given me quite some slack. One of my students from last year (I am currently teaching this module the 3rd time) has introduced Wonder to his employer and could setup a new project! As far as I know both my former student and his boss are happy. YEAH! It's difficult finding WO work. Wherever Java is wanted JEE/Hibernate/Spring/JSF/younameit is asked for, or then its dot-net. No way to do anything with WO. I was able to be introduced privately to an older rather rich person who has a lot of his money stuffed away in real estate. For him I could develop a finance tracking application for his investments so that his daughter will be able to maintain the finances once he is gone (which I hope will not be so soon....). That's a modern look ERD2W application hosted by my company. Customer is happy so far and plans for more. But I agree, it is very difficult finding WO work. It's not the tools, it's not WO, it's probably not even the closed-source thing, it's just the buzzwords that are completely missing. Nobody in the Java world is even considering something other than JEE and friends because "that's the standard". Sad but true. ---markus--- Markus Ruggiero mailingli...@kataputt.com Check out the new book about Project Wonder and WebObjects on http://learningthewonders.com/ _______________________________________________ Do not post admin requests to the list. They will be ignored. Webobjects-dev mailing list (Webobjects-dev@lists.apple.com) Help/Unsubscribe/Update your Subscription: https://lists.apple.com/mailman/options/webobjects-dev/archive%40mail-archive.com This email sent to arch...@mail-archive.com
