Year in review: Wrench hits development world

Development:Open sourcealters battle The battle for developers heated up in 2004 as established providers adjusted to the growing impact of open-source development on infrastructure software and tools. Industry heavyweights Microsoft, IBM, Oracle and Sun Microsystems and scores of others are all wooing programmers with tools to build and run the next generation of modular, flexible business systems based on a design called . Compounding the already cut-throat competition among incumbent providers, became more viable. Products matured, and companies to support the software emerged. IBM managed to co-opt the open-source movement perhaps as well as anyone with , an open-source development tool framework that IBM spun off as a separate open-source foundation. IBM then rattled the industry by sending an , urging Sun to make Java open source. A massive debate ensued, including a , but Sun has not ceded to the request. Not to be outdone, BEA Systems, which had a , started the project around its development tools in an effort to curry favor with open-source programmers. Other companies building out their software suites in an effort to attract developers include Red Hat, which now distributes an , and Novell, which released version 1.0 of its development software. Meanwhile, made perhaps the most bold move to appeal to customers by announcing a sweeping agreement to bury the legal hatchet and work together on interoperability. That plan remains a , but the companies are confident that working together they can outrun behemoth IBM and open-source products. Pure-play open-source companies emerged--and grew. Companies , and Zend Technologies released product updates designed to attract corporate customers that once believed open-source software meant only the Linux operating system and Apache Web server. Open-source support specialists , with Kim Polese as CEO, and SourceLabs also formed. The Microsoft world of development tools was active in 2004, but not always with great news. Microsoft said that it would delay the release of its much-anticipated , code-named Yukon, and its flagship development tool, called Visual Studio 2005. The Longhorn version of Windows and the WinFS file system also got pushed back until 2006. Meanwhile, developers and corporate customers had to contend with an increasingly long list of Web services-related protocols and proposed standards. To some, the WS* (pronounced "WS star") specifications were simply too to keep track of and learn; others advocated a . --Martin LaMonica As the open-source tools initiative prepares to gain independence from founder IBM, competitors and Java programmers are closely watching its future technical direction.January 28, 2004 Big Blue offers to work with Sun to help shepherd the programming language--Sun's most valuable software asset--through an open-source development model.February 26, 2004 The Java software maker plans to release portions of its WebLogic Workshop development tool to an open-source project, with the hope of making its technology more broadly available.May 19, 2004 Company's open-source project aims bring easy-to-use .Net tools to Linux and other operating systems.June 30, 2004 Red Hat next week will offer support services for an open-source Java application server.July 29, 2004 The long-time enemies reach a broad agreement that gives Sun nearly $2 billion. But Sun still faces tough challenges. For one, the companies say they will remain fierce competitors.April 5, 2004 Microsoft made its massive inroads into the database market by being low-priced and easy to use. Now MySQL is following the same path with its open-source product.April 14, 2004 Company wants to offer open-source versions of integration middleware and business process management software, CNET News.com has learned.July 16, 2004 Former Sun and Marimba executive Kim Polese takes the helm of SpikeSource, a start-up which will offer services around open-source software.October 8, 2004 The much-anticipated updates to SQL Server and Visual Studio.Net are getting pushed out to 2005. Customers who bought certain license plans expecting upgrades could be left empty-handed.March 10, 2004 As the number of Web services specifications proliferates, some developers advocate a return to a simpler approach.October 5, 2004 Microsoft and Sun's difficult dance Open source's next frontier Pandora's box for open source Services-oriented architecture gains support Is Java cooling off? Sun wrestles with open-source Java Trying to make Web services make sense BEA aims to turn it around Oracle shoots for the middle Breaking the rules with open source

Year in review: Wrench hits development world

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