Project Zero began life as an incubator project to explore a new idea that we believed had promise. That idea was of a development and runtime environment that could revolutionize creation of dynamic web applications -- providing a powerful development and execution platform for modern Web applications while at the same time having the overall experience of being radically simple. We started this incubator because we wanted to address the complexities of modern Web applications without the chains of previous architectures, technologies, or decisions.
After nearly a year of incubation, we are proud to announce IBM WebSphere sMash and IBM WebSphere sMash Developer Edition. These two products are based on the technology developed here at projectzero.org. We will continue to use projectzero.org as a technology incubator delivering frequent builds of the latest technology and offering users a chance to participate in the community, get help and give feedback. . WebSphere sMash Developer Edition will be a stable build of Project Zero, offered free of charge for development and limited deployment usage to anyone and everyone who wishes to download it. Finally, WebSphere sMash, the retail product, will give businesses the opportunity to deploy this same innovative technology, to simplify their application creation, and greatly improve their time to value.
The following is a comparison of these three offerings:
- IBM WebSphere sMash consists of only stable modules for production deployment. WebSphere sMash is available for purchase.
- IBM WebSphere sMash Developer Edition includes tools useful for developing applications in WebSphere sMash and is free for development and limited deployment (see license for details). Download WebSphere sMash DE.
- Silverstone, our current release under development, gives access to the latest features by defaulting to the experimental modules. The latest code is freely downloadable for development and limited deployment (see license for details). Download the latest Silverstone driver.
This community is an experiment in a new way to build commercial software, an approach we are currently calling Community-Driven Commercial Development. Community-Driven means that we want feedback, insight, suggestions, criticism, and dialogs with you, the users of Project Zero. This interaction will yield a better solution that targets the problems you have and a technology that truly delivers on its objectives. Commercial means that this is not an open source project. We are still building commercial software here, as the licensing makes clear, but we are doing it in a more transparent fashion. This transparency provides a way for you to influence the project much earlier in its life cycle. It also serves a role in our notions of radical simplicity. Every discussion, every technology decision, and the full history of this technology will be accessible, searchable, and preserved on this site. This means that finding answers to your questions will never be more than a search away. Development means that this community is about the technology and how it is developed and evolves. This is not a product community. It is not the place for the finished item, but rather the lab where it will grow.
We, the Project Zero team, are glad that you have found your way to our community. We encourage you to play and participate. Download WebSphere sMash DE or Silverstone, build your applications, and tell us your experiences. Are we on the right track? Did we make your life easier? What is that one thing you love (or hate) about Project Zero and WebSphere sMash? Let us know. Together we will build something truly revolutionary. Want to know more? Check out the Frequently asked questions (FAQ) or see the Developer's Guide.Head Honchos
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Jerry Cuomo is an IBM Fellow and CTO for the WebSphere brand. He is also the director of the WebSphere Technology Institute, whose mission is to cultivate the future by identifying and developing advanced technologies like Project Zero. He has spent 20 years at IBM working on advanced technology software, including breakthrough innovations in the areas of TCP/IP, real-time collaboration software, and high-performance transactional systems. Jerry is passionate about radically simplifying the consumption of middleware using appliances, virtualization, and Web 2.0 technologies.
Read Jerry's blog posts. |
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Jason R McGee is a Distinguished Engineer in IBM's Software Group. He is the Chief Architect and Director of Development responsible for Project Zero and WebSphere Extended Deployment. Jason has spent over 10 years in IBM working on application servers, Web and middleware technologies, Java and application development. Jason is passionate about exploring new ways to build Web applications that are both simple and powerful, and that leverage the full power of the Web. Read Jason's blog posts. |
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Marc-Thomas Schmidt is a Distinguished Engineer in IBM's Software Group. Marc-Thomas serves as Chief Architect for the WebSphere ESB products, WebSphere Service Registry, and the Project Zero Assemble components. He has spent 20 years at IBM working on integration middleware in support of process management, service integration and metadata management. Marc-Thomas is passionate about enabling service consumers to build applications they need by applying Web 2.0 concepts to assemble existing services & information.
Read Marc-Thomas's blog posts. |
The Team
The Project Zero team is a group of software engineers dedicated to making the next generation of dynamic Web applications easier to develop. Spanning the globe, from Research Triangle Park, North Carolina to Hawthorne, New York to Hursley, England to Haifa, Israel to Beijing, China, the team is working together to simplify Web development. Read the Project Zero blog.
Contact
Can't find what you need in the documentation or forums? Email us at zero@us.ibm.com.
