Here are my top ten predictions for Java in 2007…
10. NetBeans IDE Platform will be divided into NetBeans Enterprise Edition, Standard (or Desktop) Edition, and Mobile (or Micro) Edition. NetBeans will continue to gain market share against Eclipse, but Eclipse will maintain a slim market share lead by year’s end.
9. JBoss Seam framework will become nearly as popular as Spring Framework, in terms of market share, adoption, etc.
8. Hibernate has matured, and will likely be “retired” by Red Hat JBoss; but it will remain the de-facto industry standard for Persistence engines until broader frameworks Spring and JBoss Seam persistence offerings take hold. Technology to watch: Apache OpenJPA.
7. Java Web frameworks consolidation: the winners will at least start to emerge in JRuby (Ruby on Rails on JVM), Grails, JSF/Apache MyFaces, and Struts Action Framework 2.0. Technologies to watch: Java Web Parts and maybe RIFE.
6. Java EE 6 alpha code drop will take place at/around JavaOne; and will be offered under GPL license initially in incubator.
5. Sun’s Jini, OpenSolaris, GlassFish, and NetBeans will become official Apache projects, while Java.net will remain the incubator for nascent open source Java projects from Sun.
4. IBM acquires Interface21 and the Spring Framework; will create super enterprise development and deployment framework stack with Spring Framework (w/scripting extensions using Groovy/Grails), Apache Geronimo, and, of course, Eclipse. May lead to a commercial version as well as open source community edition.
3. Sun will acquire the rights to Java.org through acquisition, and use this as their primary portal to all things open source Java, mostly nascent open source Java projects and RSS feeds to their other more mature projects on Apache.org.
2. Oracle merges with/acquires Red Hat (includes JBoss) as the “dance” has already begun with Oracle Linux which is based on Red Hat Linux, past Oracle-JBoss interest and discussions, etc.
And number…
1. HP looking to be relevant again, beyond printers, may acquire/merge with BEA Systems, Inc. which would give them top-down, top-notch complete software solution stack to bundle with their servers. HP currently does NOT have an in-house software stack solution like IBM, Sun, etc. This may also give HP access to a broader and more appropriate customer base…
We’ll see. Enjoy the New Year!
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