itsalleasy

Spring just got a new look. I don’t really like it (not the point, but thought I’d throw it out there). I do appreciate the need to move to a CMS…or should I say AMS (Article Management Site…I feel a lot of tools mis-label themselves CMS). When I read that they were using Drupal, I reeled. Not because I don’t like drupal…its OK (I settled on PhpWebsite for the community site I do…it was just fit better for me…but I’m sure drupal has a larger developer community and it is certainly prettier). I reeled because the springframework guys…guys I respect for great java code/ideas/contribution, have settled on a PHP-based tool for their website/cms tool.

This isn’t new in the java world…I’ve heard similar gripes about many other java sites. Why does this happen? A short list of reasons:

1. Java Hosting is more expensive
2. There are already good php and perl solutions in this space
3. There isn’t a good, open-source java cms out there (nukes on jboss is pretty much the only one I know of)

Argument #1 is becoming less and less an issue (compared to what it used to be anyway)…but it still isn’t low enough for the average-joe tinkerpage. However, I think it is reasonable for a significant community site or Open Source project.

Then again, if you have something people want…but its java…people will probably look for (or write!) a php/perl solution for it first…just because it is still far cheaper to host php/perl apps. Which leads into Argument #2. My only answer for this is that we’ve seen what php and perl have done in this space…now lets see what open source java can do. We may wind up with a tool that is slick enough to warrant paying the higher hosting prices (which in turn would lower the hosting prices because of increased popularity/familiarity/competition). Ultimately leading to a boom in java-based solutions for average web pages (sounds ridiculous…but could happen…eventually).

Finally argument #3…kind of because of the previous arguments…there are not many java solutions in this space. The only one I know of is nukes for jboss…and I pretty much hate php-nuke. Even in the php world, there are many better solutions (like drupal and phpwebsite) I would never have made any kind of decision to mimic that system in java. This DOES need to be remedied.

We need a java-based solution to emerge on to the scene…if only to make me feel better.

Update: Found a few here. Guess I just haven’t looked very hard From what I’ve read (generically) none of them compare with the ease of use that the php ones have evolved into…I’ll have to look into that.