Why I like this book:

- It gives a good overall coverage of the open source options that aids decision making.
- Something like this was well overdue.
- Reasonably well written, they know their stuff.
- Good pointers and relevant advicxe.

Why I don't like this book.

- As usual, the code does not work, ant generates warnings, some pages on the web application do not work, no install instructions, had to figure it out for 2 hours. No source files for the argoUML provided.
- SPELLING AND GRAMMAR ERRORS. If you can't stand them, like me, you will writhe in pain at some real shockers.
- The example application is TOO COMPLEX. If you provide an example system, MAKE IT WORK FIRST AND PROVIDE INSTALL INSTRUCTIONS PLEASE.
- The website is "under construction", therefore no errata, had to go to the publisher's site for the source code.
- An online version of the example app would have been a good idea.
- I will probably only read it once and never refer to it again because of these issues, so kinda wasted it's potential.
- I contacted the authors and got the usual "not my problem" response.

I hope this helps you make a sound purchase decision, and just maybe it would have got 4 stars if the external issues such as cource code building, website, errata etc were addressed. Attention authors: it's not too late to address them. Unfortunately I do have that bad just-bought-an-expensive-java-book-again-and-feel-let-down-just-publish-it-and-forget-it kinda feeling.

I must confess that the title is what first intrigued me. I like "process" oriented books, that tell me how to do more with less. But when I cracked it open, I found a very broad collection of quality open source projects, all available for free.

Rather than just listing the products and letting me fend for myself, the authors walk me through what to expect from an MVC or persistence framework, laying out the landscape and telling me what the tradeoffs are for each solution. It's a great idea. With a little promotion, a book with this title, philosophy, and organization *should* go places. I'm not sure why it hasn't so far.

I must confess that the title is what first intrigued me. I like "process" oriented books, that tell me how to do more with less. But when I cracked it open, I found a very broad collection of quality open source projects, all available for free.

Rather than just listing the products and letting me fend for myself, the authors walk me through what to expect from an MVC or persistence framework, laying out the landscape and telling me what the tradeoffs are for each solution. It's a great idea. With a little promotion, a book with this title, philosophy, and organization *should* go places. I'm not sure why it hasn't so far.

Are you an unabashed cheapskate developer? Perhaps by the necessity of a limited budget. Or maybe you consider Open Source to be ultimately more reliable than closed proprietary code. For either reason, or better, for both, this book might interest you.

The authors shamelessly plug the combination of writing in Java and using Open Source applications that have arisen to support it. Starting with using Ant as a "super-make". Then testing modularity and programmatically with JUnit. If you need to build business rules, why not try Marc Fleury's JBoss? Plus front end UIs can be enhanced with SWT, if you want a native look and feel, instead of the default Swing/AWT. Also discussed are JMX, JDBC, JNDI and more.

All these packages are free and by now are very well tested. Sam-Bodden and Judd try to motivate you with concrete code samples. Because the packages can be forbidding in their totality. The authors show how you can integrate them into your needs in a systematic and doable fashion. The complexity can be minimised.

As an extra fillip, they devote a chapter to the very hot topic of having Web Services support mobile clients, via something like J2ME.

Given the scope of what the authors are trying to achieve here, I didn't expect them to succeed: it is, after all, just a lot of information.

Fortunately, they've proven me wrong. This book is excellent, technical, well-written, and well-organized. If you're looking for a mechanism go from Programmer to Developer, or from Developer to Lead Developer, then this book will give explain the technical material you need to master.

I looked at the size of the book and didn't think it was possible for the authors to adequately cover all java open source technologies listed on the cover. I was mistaken. Since I am a seasoned J2EE professional, I thought I could skip over sections on Ant, Junit and UML. Again, I was mistaken. I learned many tips on topics I thought I was already an expert on.

Not only did the authors provide valuable information on each topic, but each technology was compared in an unbiased fashion. I felt each chapter provided enough background and detailed information for me to decide if it's a good fit for my application. The authors point out critical questions to ponder in each chapter when making architectural decisions. The chapter on "Data Storage Options" is a great example.

I found the theme of using the sample application throughout the book as a cohesive and a good way to demonstrate and contrast the different open source technologies. The sample application represented a real world scenario and demonstrated more than just the simple (and non real world) usage of the technologies.

I only have one wish, I would have liked to seen a little more coverage of Apache Axis in the web services chapter.

It would be impossible to thoroughly cover each open source technology included in the book since each one is a book unto itself. However, after reading this single book I feel educated enough to choose and further evaluate open source technologies that will meet my specific application needs. This sure beats having to research countless web sites, articles and technology specific books to find information provided in this one resource.