Radovan would have me unask the question why Jini and JXTA? I think we need neither. Well, JXTA is more Java-independent... Well, Jini has nice discovery protocol... and so what? Fortunatelly, JXTA is closer to web services, which is good. I like both of them as p2p concepts. But if I had to chose, I would chose Globus stuff. I had a few answers to my question, which are worth summarizing: Piotr: I've looked at both a short while ago, and my understanding is that Jini is predicated on mobile code (i.e. tied to Java) while JXTA is a fancied-up XML message routing system. Based on this, they appear to be irreconcilable, Carlos: [...] build your services and inhouse applications using JINI. However, for an internet wide application, use JXTA. My take, JXTA seems to take a more pragmatic approach and therefore may be better in general, that may also be the reason its being adopted for N1 rather than JINI. Curt: Sun is finally starting to realize that JINI and JXTA are both similar and complimentary. There is rumored to be an open-source project to bridge the two, but it doesn't look very open to me. [nwhere.jini.org/ Patrick: JINI came first, but was Java specific, and other P2P-like systems that were language-independent were getting a good bit of attention while JINI relatively languished in disinterest. JXTA was conceived in part to address the desire for a protocol-level approach rather than a language-specific approach. Also JINI was conceived or at least marketed to a significant extent as an embedded systems mechanism. JXTA was conceived as more of an Internet P2P mechanism. Of course these were not technical restrictions, but more part of their subtext. so, all this helps. Carlos points out the internet/intranet divide, but I wonder why is Sun encouraging this distinction? There seems to be trade off between the homogenity of Java-oriented Jini and the (potential) ubiquity of protocol-oriented JXTA. Also, I find Jini to be somewhat better specified than JXTA and with a better programming model in JavaSpaces. But for the kinds of things I'm interested in, choosing Jini means choosing Java over protocols - that's a big ask. My experience is that things defined in terms of protocols trump things defined in terms of programming languages. I'll say one thing about my online experiences around Jini/JXTA. There are too many software communities hovering around Java - java.sun.com, java.net, jxta.org, jcp.org, jini.org, developers.sun.com, who knows what in the midp/device space. It feels disparate. Sun could do worse than talk to O'Reilly about to manage all this good stuff. O'Reilly's business spans many different communities, but for my money they make it all hang together online cohesively. And yes, let's look at Globus/OGSA too....
Previous Topic
