RE: Apache or Sun ?

MessageI'm not sure that this is the right venue to ask this question. I
always view the W3C lists as completely vendor neutral, so I'm hesitant to
answer as I might in a different forum. You might try the SOAP discussion
list (http://discuss.develop.com/soap.html).

But let's look at the two choices purely objectively:

Apache Axis:
- currently in beta 2. Final should be available in June
- beta 2 supports the APIs defined in the JAX-RPC v0.8 specification
  See Axis beta1-beta2 changes: http://xml.apache.org/axis/beta1-beta2.html
- open source (Apache license)

Sun JWSDK (contains two SOAP implementations):
JAX-RPC:
- currently in EA2. Final should be available in June.
- EA2 supports the APIs defined in the JAX-RPC v0.7 specification.
  See JAX-RPC release notes:
http://java.sun.com/webservices/docs/ea2/jaxrpc/ReleaseNotes.html
- reference implementation. Free for personal/commercial use, requires
redistribution license.
JAXM:
- currently in EA2. Final should be available in June.
- EA2 supports the APIs defined in the JAXM v1.0 specification.
  JAXM release notes:
http://java.sun.com/webservices/docs/ea2/jaxm/ReleaseNotes.html
- reference implementation. Free for personal/commercial use, requires
redistribution license.

Hmmm. That doesn't help too much, unless the licensing issue makes a
difference to you.

I suggest you try them and determine which one you like best. But I wouldn't
stop with just these two providers. There are lots of other excellent SOAP
implementations to choose from, many of which are free for development, some
of which are free for deployment, some of which offer more tools.

Things to consider:
- tools:
  - type mapping: how much is done automatically
  - deployment tools
  - SOAP tracing tools
  - monitoring/management tools
- interoperability
- performance
- scalability
- extensibility
- security
- multiple transport support
- flexibility is terms of configuration
- support for
  - sessions/stateful services
  - header processing
  - remote references
  - J2EE integration

That should get you started.

Best regards,
Anne Thomas Manes
CTO, Systinet
  -----Original Message-----
  From: www-ws-request@w3.org [mailto:www-ws-request@w3.org]On Behalf Of
Marina Pérel
  Sent: Tuesday, June 04, 2002 7:16 AM
  To: www-ws@w3.org
  Subject: Re: Apache or Sun ?


  Hi,
  Thanks for your answers!
  (I try to post my question in the WebServices.org's forum, but nobody
answers me and this forum "don't move a lot")

  I have already develop a Web Service with Apache SOAP, but it is an old
tool now.
  My Web Service will be developped in Java and my client probably in Java.
  I want to know some positive arguments and negative arguments for each
tools (for example, which tools is the most "stable"?) in order to do my
choice.

  Greetings,
  Marina
    ----- Original Message -----
    From: Edwin Khodabakchian
    To: 'Marina Pérel'
    Sent: Tuesday, June 04, 2002 8:18 AM
    Subject: RE: Apache or Sun ?


    Marina,
    It will depend on what you are trying to do. Are you trying to learn
about web services, do you need to implement a specific service, who do you
expect will use your service (meaning .Net or Java client)?
    Edwin
      -----Original Message-----
      From: www-ws-request@w3.org [mailto:www-ws-request@w3.org] On Behalf
Of Marina Pérel
      Sent: Tuesday, June 04, 2002 12:14 AM
      To: www-ws@w3.org
      Subject: Apache or Sun ?


      Hi!
      I want to build a web service. But i don't know the tools i must use.
I hesitate between the Axis's Apache project and the Web Service's pack of
Sun ?
      Anyone can help me ? Which tool is the best ?
      Thanks in advance,
      Marina