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I'm not familiar with this specific workshop. However, ObjectWatch has historically been an unequivocal partisan on the side of Microsoft in the MS vs. Java wars, as has Roger Sessions. I've looked over the slides at ObjectWatch's site and it appears to be more of the same, combined with a rather feeble attempt at an enterprise architecture. One of the challenges that software engineers have always faced is finding sound guidance from those who don't have hidden agendas. That's proved impossible, so the practical route is to listen to the partisans, but take everything with a grain of salt and listen to the opposing views, as well. Then make your own judgment. Realistically, though, J2EE and .NET will coexist in most real world enterprises, so finding the right way to bridge them in the enterprise is important. This workshop seems to try to address the latter. But the formulation of "Software Fortresses" sounds bizarre to me. That sounds like a warped way of presenting things. What seems to be all too often lacking is a sound and reasonable understanding of the relevance of issues of scale when considering the necessary architecture of a system. Integration woes are often the result of approaching systems as "islands" or "silos" and not adequately addressing what happens at the boundaries of the system. In order to understand the latter, you need to step up a level in scale and look at your system in context -- from the viewpoint in which your system is a component. That means modeling the enterprise (and beyond, when you want to scale across partner enterprises). Enlightened architects understood years ago that OO-centric architectures are not sufficient for that. You need more, and it's not all about technology. The Zachman Framework [1] provides one framework for enterprise architectures. Apple at one point adapted an enterprise technical architecture (which is a subset of enterprise architecture) from DEC and christened it as VITAL (no links for this that I know of -- it's been all but forgotten). This was a quite enlightened technical architecture that presaged many of the "innovations" we hear from people today. VITAL put an emphasis on ER modelling and data warehousing as a foundation for a shared information model that spans the enterprise. Message brokers are another sound approach that some technical architectures have emphasised. Web Services -- properly used -- can be useful here, too. But not if you don't understand the enterprise. I'm not sure why we need some new perspective here that talks of "software fortresses". I'm doubtful that they are really presenting any new insights. We just keep rehashing the same old lessons, and people still don't listen. For those who have any interest in learning those old lessons, rather than struggling to rehash them, I'd recommend "CORBA Design Patterns" [2], for one -- not for the simple CORBA-centric design patterns in it, but for the excellent discussion of issues of architecture and scale early in the book. This discussion can cast a very useful light on some of the discussions going on today, especially with regard to the feeble caricatures of OO that get thrown about by some to support the notion that OO is a failure. The point he makes in passing regarding the challenge of getting "types" to reach beyond the boundaries of the enterprise provides a wonderful complementary perspective on the debate over REST today. I am also fond of the book "Building Enterprise Information Architecture" by Melissa Cook [3]. It's an excellent intro to *real* enterprise architecture for anyone interested. [1] http://www.zifa.com [2] http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0471158828/qid=1015448016/sr=1-3/ref= sr_1_3/002-2084195-7780855 [3] http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0134402561/qid=1015447970/sr=8-1/ref= sr_8_67_1/002-2084195-7780855 > -----Original Message----- > From: Bullard, Claude L (Len) [mailto:clbullar@i...] > Sent: Wednesday, March 06, 2002 6:49 AM > To: xml-dev@l... > Subject: RE: A Two Day Workshop for Software Architects > > > Gotta love it. Architectures for survivalists. > No REST for the weary. > > "self contained, mutually suspicious, > marginally cooperating software fortresses > (perfect for J2EE and .NET!)" > > And now you know. :-) > > len > > *************************** > > From: janet@o... [mailto:janet@o...] > Sent: Tuesday, March 05, 2002 5:16 PM > To: ObjectWatch_Subscribers@s... > Subject: A Two Day Workshop for Software Architects > > Software Fortresses, J2EE, and .NET > A Two Day Workshop for Software Architects > > Don't try to choose between J2EE and .NET, use them both! > Just use a unifying architecture that recognizes the strengths > and weaknesses of each platform. This class introduces a > new model for enterprise systems called the Software Fortress > Model. The Software Fortress Model treats enterprise > systems as a series of self contained, mutually suspicious, > marginally cooperating software fortresses > (perfect for J2EE and .NET!). > > Each fortress makes its own choices as to software > platform and data storage mechanisms and interacts > with other fortresses through carefully crafted treaties. > This helps enterprises focus on the critical issues of > security and platform interoperability. > > In this workshop you will learn the basic principals of > Software Fortresses: what they are, how to build them, > how they form the basis of an enterprise architecture, > how to make them secure, how to use both J2EE and .NET > technologies effectively within the Software Fortress > Architecture, and how J2EE and .NET compare in their > ability to support the Software Fortress Model. > > This workshop will change forever how you think > about building enterprise systems! > > This workshop will be taught by Roger Sessions, > one of the world's leading experts in highly scalable > Web oriented architectures, and the originator of the > Software Fortress Model. This workshop is perfect for > Senior Developers, Project Managers, and Application > Architects. Whether you are trying to decide between > J2EE and .NET, trying to understand how to get them > to work together, or just trying to build a large enterprise > system, this thought provoking two day workshop is a > not to be missed event! > > ----------------------------------------------------------------- > The xml-dev list is sponsored by XML.org <http://www.xml.org>, an > initiative of OASIS <http://www.oasis-open.org> > > The list archives are at http://lists.xml.org/archives/xml-dev/ > > To subscribe or unsubscribe from this list use the subscription > manager: <http://lists.xml.org/ob/adm.pl> >
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