Apple WebObjects is now free
When I read about XCode 2.1, this kind of bubbled just under my conciousness. Slashdot brought it fully to my attention, though. Apple has made WebObjects free with Tiger. (Not open source, though…)
I read a bit about WebObjects in 2003 while doing some research for a new project. Though I have seen some folks complain that Apple has let the software languish, I’ve seen some of these same folks say it’s the best way to build a webapp.
It looks very cool, and apparently is Java-based in its current incarnation. So, you can develop on a Mac and deploy on a Linux box, if you wish. You can deploy to a J2EE app server or use Apple’s own server with J2SE 1.3.1+.
The trick, though, is that I can’t find anything about the deployment terms on Apple’s site. Their “Flexible, low-cost licensing”:
Requires only one license per machine, regardless of platform, speed, or number of processors
But *how much does it cost*? I didn’t see anything in the Apple Store and the WO front page tries to get you to buy Mac OS X Server.
(It’s kind of funny ending an article with a title that says that something is free by asking how much it costs…)
Not the first time I’ve heard of that behavior. When I was looking at them for my job, I never could get BlueDragon (who make a ColdFusion clone) to get back to me with a price (since their “free” version was deeply crippled…).
I heard that WebObjects’ deployment license is bundled with XServe.
They used to allow deployment on several platforms (and I guess they still do, sorta) but you have to buy their server hardware to get the deployment license/key.
WebObjects deployment does come with the XServe, but that’s just because WebObjects deployment is included in Mac OS X Server (which is bundled with the XServe). Mac OS X Server, with an unlimited user deployment license of WebObjects, can be purchased separately for $499.
That’s good info! I guess the only other question about WO deployment is the cost of deployment to another app server (running under Linux, say).
The short version is as follows:
Deployment of WebObjects requires a license for each server it is to be deployed upon. This license is either purchsed seperately for $699 as a part of the commercial WO 5 package, and includes the server deployment and development environment for Windows 2000 (it does not run on 2003 or XP), and the server deployment for Solaris, as well as the deployment license that would be required to deploy to any J2EE compliant server including Linux or others.
The other deployment option is to deploy to any Mac OS X Server (Panther or newer) which include built in Deployment licenses and servers.
Hope this helps..l.
That does clear it up! Thanks!
(And $699 per server is really not bad.)