Hi folks,
I have prepared new kind of strategic plan for JSF and I really need your participation on it.
To push you in action let me apply some scare tactics :
If my calculations are correct in a couple years the JSF framework could become pretty irrelevant to the market.
Here is my pretty basic argumentation:
1) Rocket rise web platform. Good examples are rapid browser progressing, quick adapting HTML 5, and emerging web platforms such as Google Chrome OS or IE9 Platform.
It means drastically improved client side. So client side oriented frameworks will get more advantage comparing to server oriented framework such as JSF.
2) Establishing JavaScript based server platform. Improvements in area of ECMAScript standards, implementing crazy fast JavaScript engines, CommonJS and Node are enough examples to see that it's coming.
3) Huge rise in popularity JavaScript libraries. Many of them provide rich set of UI components, have capable template engines and have started move to server side.
Also take in account that web development oriented sites (sitepoint.com e.g.) have stopped to write Java related stuff several years ago.
4) JSF team is small and has very limited resources.
5) Recently announced Google's native client now supports the three most popular processor architectures.
Let's be clear on one main point.
Incremental improvements to JSF framework will not turn the situation for better because JSF framework will continue to lose ground in the same time from technological and market perspectives.
To reverse the situation we have to change drastically our approach first of all from technological point of view.
That certainly wouldn't enough to win but that will provide solid ground to attack the market place.
Keep in mind even if we will have the framework that technologically is superior to others there is still no guaranty that market will share our opinion on this.
Anyway establishing a new marketing strategy for JSF is the topic that can follow only after high potential technological plan is in place.
Usually in every situation there is a way out.
We still have the chance to turn the future to our advantages.
The most critical step is to make JSF more balanced between client and server sides.
I mean we have to move all UI components from server to client.
Yes, I know there is a huge amount of work absorbed in the related functionality but sometimes surgery is the best available option.
In this context the phrase "kill them all" sound right to me.
It's understandable if JSF components library vendors will try to kill the idea.
From another hand if they will be able to embrace it they could open much bigger playing field for itself from the market perspective.
I suggest to introduce a new kind of JSF components called "data controls" and they main responsibility to support only data handling oriented functionality.
They should completely disconnect from UI related functionality.
UI specific functionality belongs to client side like it was before in desktop based applications.
Regarding how the plan was born I have to say that I just took a look around and made some connections, interpretations and extrapolations.
Take in account that almost all points of the plan were originally suggested before by others developers.
The plan is still in early stage but there is enough data to support or disregard it.I would like to see any opinion here even angry one.
I strongly believe that JSF team would like to know what community thinks about the future of JSF.
In case you are pretty busy or taking passive position still find a couple seconds and send a signal for example:
"-1", "0", "1".
See the following link:
http://wiki.jcp.org/wiki/index.php?page=JSF+Proposed+Features
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