J2EE vs.  .NET WEB Services

Microsoft's .NET framework and Sun's J2EE (Java2 Enterprise Environment) are the two industry leaders in providing platforms for web services. Though both have, for the first time, agreed on the core standards that make define web services, both have distinct and often contrasting approached to deliver the benefits of web services to the customers.

 

Comparative Analysis: J2EE v/s .NET

The basic premise of the argument is that the .NET framework can better leverage an existing Windows environment. .NET is tightly coupled with the Windows operating systems. It provides for better integration of web services with other Microsoft products. This is primarily because the .NET framework was architected around XML and web services. Thus, it is not as mature, and it means that existing Microsoft applications need to be recoded to move then to .NET.

J2EE enables a more cross-platform solution. It is not a product suite like .NET, and is more of a standard that developer and applications need to follow to fall within the J2EE framework. As such, J2EE provides a more abstract and loosely integrated environment. J2EE uses Java, which is more mature, and its vendors tend to look on web services, as more of am add-on to a proven technology.

 

Support for standards and protocols:
An obvious selection process could be based on how well .NET and J2EE support the basic components of web services - WSDL, XML, UDDI and SOAP. Any web service will revolve around these protocols and standards, and how well the enabling platforms can support could be the decisive factor. A comparative analysis of how .NET and J2EE would be one way to judge which platform would be the best choice for your web service solution. Overall, because .NET was designed for web services, it tends to have better closer integration with these protocols.

Web Services support
With J2EE, designing and deploying web services requires a fair bit of manual intervention and customization. The alternative is to provide third party applications with the web service solution.
With .NET, the degree of manual work required is much less. However, it does not ebXML, a widely recognized and accepted collaboration standard for e-Business.

Tools for web services
The J2EE software portfolio consists of numerous third party applications that support this framework. But the interoperability between individual vendor applications is low, because different vendors have developed them.
On the other hand, the .NET framework supports a closely-knit set of tools that give the developer a great deal of interoperability. Hence, even though the functionality of tools provided by the J2EE community supercedes the functionality of Microsoft tools, .NET has an edge because of greater interoperability among its products.

 

Conclusion

.NET is accepted as the early mover in web services, and can boast of a framework developed with web services as the core idea. J2EE is a framework embraced almost entirely by the non-Microsoft businesses, and is a proven technology. The battle between J2EE and .NET to gain supremacy in the web services will be a fascinating one to watch. For now, there are no clear winners between the two, and there are promises and realities for both platforms. Both platforms currently have their individual market share but as the technology matures, and as businesses accept web services for critical business processes, their contrasting stands will result in one winner. Only time will tell whom.