WebObjects 5.2

[MacRumors]

Thinksecret reports on an upcoming upgrade to WebObjects:

According to documents obtained by Think Secret, version 5.2 includes "significant changes and enhancements" to Enterprise Objects and Java Client, improvements to application deployment, support for streaming HTTP requests/responses, and numerous bug fixes.

Further details available at Thinksecret.

 

[j763]

who actually uses it anyways?

 

[buffsldr]

i was using WO 5.1. I missed the free update period to WO 5.2. i bought it under the academic discount (100 bucks). It was just a toy, but it was so buggy. I actually look forward to getting 5.2, just to see if the improvements are all that.

 

[gbojim]

Originally posted by j763
who actually uses it anyways?

This is a huge app in the corporate world for Apple. I use this a lot. IMO there is no better way to develop and deploy web apps that access a database.

 

[pgwalsh]

I've been poking my head around the Web Objects website looking for information etc. It looks like making dynamic sites is a snap compared to other technologies. I haven't met anybody using is though. If anyone has any comparisons to something like ColdFusion etc please post.

 

[jgalun]

Agreed, if someone could say why WebObjects instead of ASP/PHP/ColdFusion, I'd be interested.

 

[gbojim]

Originally posted by jgalun
Agreed, if someone could say why WebObjects instead of ASP/PHP/ColdFusion, I'd be interested.

A few key advantages from my experience include:

WebObjects is automatically 3 tiered isolating user interface, business logic and database functionality. This provides a high degree of scalability and security. Although other environments can also be 3 tiered, Enterprise Objects make development and integration with the database much easier. In fact, you can start with a lower end DBMS such as OpenBase, and if you outgrow it, you can migrate to Oracle or SyBase without changing a line of code.

Rapid prototyping makes application proveout extremely fast and efficient. We can often generate a basic working app in a day for approval. I'm not sure about newer versions, but when we first evaluated WebObjects against Cold Fusion, Cold Fusion did not come close for prototyping.

WebObjects apps can run on any Java server.

WebObjects apps can use a normal HTML client via XML, or can auto generate a Java client app deploying a portion of your business logic to the client automatically to reduce the number of round trip queries to the DB server.

 

[tcripps]

Originally posted by j763
who actually uses it anyways?

Lots of folks:

To name a few:

* Apple (.mac, PowerSchool, internally)
* Adobe
* Disney
* Warner Music division
* Hard Rock Cafe
* U.S. Armed Forces
* U.S. Post Office
* Many insurance companies
* Many financial institutions
* AAA of California
* etc.

 

[jaykk]

Originall DELL.COM was built using WO

How many of you know that the original DELL site was built using WebObjects in few weeks by Apple Engineers?
WebObjects & Dell

I think BBC is still using WO. there are many more

 

[oldMac]

So great they don't let anyone try it...

I'd been interested in trying out Web Objects in the past, but every time I asked for a demo version, Apple just wanted to send some sales guy over.

I suspect that if WO is any good, that Apple would be best served to let people tinker with it.

 

[jaykk]

i think WO is a free download at ADC

I think if you register with Apple Developer Connection, you can download the evaluation version for free. I didnt log on to ADC for quite sometime, but i am sure, it is still there

 

[pgwalsh]

Re: So great they don't let anyone try it...

Originally posted by oldMac
I'd been interested in trying out Web Objects in the past, but every time I asked for a demo version, Apple just wanted to send some sales guy over.

I suspect that if WO is any good, that Apple would be best served to let people tinker with it.

Yes tinkering is a good thing. They need to let us play before we pay. It's my understanding that Web Objects comes as part of the OS X server package?

 

[tcripps]

Re: Re: So great they don't let anyone try it...

Originally posted by pgwalsh
Yes tinkering is a good thing. They need to let us play before we pay. It's my understanding that Web Objects comes as part of the OS X server package?

I'm pretty sure OS X Server comes with only the deployment binaries for WebObjects. You will still need the development tools to build WebObjects applications. You can install the development tools on either MacOS X Server or "plain jane" MacOS X.