The Spaceship and the Zeppelin

SpaceDaily has an interesting article comparing the problems of rigid airships with those of the space shuttle.


As I think about this and the lessons it implies about software, I can't help but think of EJBs as the big bloated Zeppelins of our day. I'll show you what I mean by considering a few of the points of the article in the context of EJBS



High Unit Cost -- Complexity of building high quality EJB.

Narrow Design Base -- Design being driven by a few corporate interests

Narrow Contractor Base -- Expensive and complicated licensing

Mammoth Ground Support Equipment -- Expensive infrastructure requirements

Inappropriate Traditions -- Warmed over CORBA

Low Safety Factors -- 88.888 up time

The Publicity Spotlight -- J2EE hype machine

Fanatical Promoters -- Corporate hype machines

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