Ever since I started working with J2EE as it used to be called, I have been reading articles about how bad it is, and how many nice solutions exist that replace the need for the Java Enterprise Standard.
Look at this article at the JavaLobby, for example. (disclaimer: I am a big supporter of the JavaLobby , and I read the columns and discussions as much as I can). According to the article, the JEE wars are over and Spring has won. Excuse me? I wasn't aware of a war. I am working with JavaEE and I am happy with it, some people I know (many people, I agree) are working with Spring and they are happy too. More important, we still live in peace.
I strongly do not believe in a one-framework-fits-all-for-everybody concept. Even stronger, I don't believe in a one-language-fits all. Some people like PHP and are extremely skilled in it. That is good, they should develop things in PHP. I am very bad with PHP (not that I work with PHP, but if I would, it would be very bad). I like Java, it fits my way of algorithmic thinking, hence I use that language and platform to achieve my goals.
The same holds for Java Enterprise. I see lots of cool things that are created using Spring. That is excellent, and I encourage people to continue doing so. But again, Spring and myself isn't the best match. I like the EJB 3.0 spec. I even liked the EJB 2.1 spec! I agree that EJB 2.1 was a huge barrier for novice developers, and I believe EJB 3 is much easier.
At LodgON, we've created a number of applications on top of JavaEE 5. One of the most important things for me is the fact that Glassfish is the reference implementation for Java EE 5. I don't have numbers about market share or adoption, but Glassfish is one of the coolest projects I've ever seen in Java. I wish I had more time to play with Glassfish v3. I will investigate v3 in the near future, I believe that together with JavaFX, Glassfish v3 is one of the most important activities inside the Sun Java divisions.
Look at DaliCMS, it is a complete CMS on top of Glassfish (or any JavaEE 5 compliant appserver). It leverages a number of Java EE capabilities: persistence API, transaction management, resource management, JMS, Mail API.
We've build a survey system for a major telco/cable TV operator, where a very large number of users got a popup on their TV screen all at the same moment. Served with Glassfish, ran without any problem.
We created many proprietary systems for customers, most of them running on Glassfish.
Does this mean that I would suggest all Spring developers to migrate to Glassfish? No (although I would recommend them to give it at least a try). But please, stop bashing Java EE and let the developers that are using JavaEE and Glassfish and that are happy about it at least in their dignity. When I read some of the anti-JavaEE articles, I feel like I should be ashamed. I am proud to say that I'm a happy Java EE 5 developer.
Johan's blog 