JavaEnterprise JavaA Java Community Center Works Out

A Java Community Center Works Out

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Sometimes it’s a true pleasure to work in the greater software development community — or maybe that should be business. Actually, it’s both. In other industries, this would not be a source of confusion. If this were the processed food field, I doubt people would be exchanging ideas so readily. In the world of software, though, there is always the notion that we are all somehow in this together. ‘Man versus machine’ makes for a lot of like-minded yet independent thinkers.

That’s why I love to see independent community centers arise successfully online. One I’ve been following for a while now is run by an outfit called iSavvix, based in Herndon, Va. The iSavvix Java Community (IJC) is a destination for software professionals looking to share information and code, as well as workout with special services.

Community just keeps growing, because it isn’t a business model, it’s a culture, in which business can occur.

It got a big write-up recently at Sun’s official site for Java developers. You may want to read it.

iSavvix CEO Anil Hemrajani brought me up to date last week on the IJC. He said that despite the downturn in the economy, iSavvix will “continue to build and leverage our Java community as a technical learning and information sharing exchange”. Something they’re doing quite well. The IJC won the award for “Outstanding Contribution to the Growth of the Java Community (Group/Organization)” at JavaOne this year. And the member base of the IJC has surpassed 35,000 and is still going strong, according to Hemrajani.

iSavvix has introduced several new tools to the IJC (such as DevSpace, its JSP programming environment that offers community members 10MB of development space for flexing their software muscles), the CEO said. And they have others on the drawing board.

What’s on the horizon for this company’s cool community center?

Hemrajani said: “More innovative tools on the community site — three more in the works, as we speak. More sponsors. The community will become our R&D hub, as well as a one-stop resource for Java developers, product vendors, press and corporate customers, sort of a central exchange that ties all these parties together. We also plan to offer some premium services in the near future.”

Sounds like a pretty healthy outlook.

The truth is that ‘community’ never died in the very real world inhabited by software developers, after the Wall Street analysts ripped it to shreds as a ‘business model’. Community just keeps growing, because it isn’t a business model, it’s a culture, in which business can occur.

The bean-counters just never grasped this.

About the Author

Kieron Murphy is the editorial manager of EarthWeb.

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