News.com writes on the first eight years of Java 2 Enterprise Edition:
J2EE is as powerful as any developer could ever dream. But with power comes complexity. All the J2EE specifications put side by side easily take a yard of shelf space. While I have a hard time visualizing enterprise technology becoming “easy” in my lifetime, it can–and should–be easier. If J2EE is to achieve mass adoption while maintaining what makes J2EE powerful, it must become easier.
In the same way the ease of VisualBasic unleashed Windows applications development, routine J2EE development tasks need to become less elite and more mainstream. The good news is we’re getting there already. To automate repetitive J2EE procedures, tools are emerging that offer a visual framework for traditional corporate application developers to use J2EE, leaving more complex programming to the elite J2EE developers.
The second roadblock–the speed at which J2EE innovations are made available to customers–is equally important to overcome. No matter how simple J2EE becomes, if it pursues a glacial pace of innovation, it will freeze itself out of the market. Someone somewhere will come up with something faster. Perhaps not better–but faster. And speed rules.
