This is minor bug fixes and feature enhancements release. The main change is the ability to place Message elements in the Data Dictionaries where they can be referenced by many Operations from unrelated Services.
This is the major feature enhancement release. The main new feature is the ability to model and generate support for events - the unsolicited asyncroneous messages produced by servers and consumed by clients.
Of course MetaBoss has competitors. The Model Driven Design and Development ideas have been in the public domain for some time. Many standards have been published and some tools have appeared on the market over the last few years. However, we happen to believe that MetaBoss is offering better value proposition than many of its competitors (certainly all the ones we know about).
Some of the MetaBoss's strengths are:
Open source. We do control the source very tightly and in any case most of the MetaBoss's source code in not written by volunteers. However the open source gives our customers a piece of mind and opens MetaBoss internals for scrutiny, critique and suggestions from the wider information technology community.
Use of open standards and non-proprietary technologies where possible and practical. This reduces enterprise dependency on a particular vendor.
Ability to use modelling approach even in enterprises with unsophisticated infrastructure. For example the J2EE infrastructure is not essential.
Ability to distribute, scale and grow the power of enterprise systems "as you go". The same model can be used to create huge multi tier distributed deployments as well as simple single-computer installations.
"Whole of enterprise" approach delivers high levels of standardisation and reuse of software components across the whole business.
Recognition that systems purchased from third parties are an integral part of modern enterprise and they too need to be formally defined and integrated with the rest of the enterprise.
Technology independent software model assists in preservation and survival of hand-coded portions of software.
Low cost licensing model. Our consulting and support fees are competitive, but comparable with the rest of the market. However, our licensing structure is simple and licensing fees are low.
We know that our product is world class and will stand the test of time. We know that MetaBoss can help to make your IT better. But it is not a silver bullet. To succeed with MetaBoss or any model driven tool, there needs to be a desire to achieve efficiencies and significant political will in the management.
MetaBoss is the registered trademark of Softaris Pty.Ltd. Java, Enterprise JavaBeans, JDBC, JNDI, JTA, JTS, JCA and other Java related APIs are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. MDA, UML, MOF, CORBA and IIOP are trademarks or registered trademarks of the Object Management Group. Microsoft, .NET and C# are trademarks or registered trademarks of the Microsoft Corporation. All other product names mentioned herein are trademarks of their respective owners.
