I can't believe they did this kind of thing in 1999 - 2002 for WebSphere. That is the era where Enterprise Java, XML, and SOAP took off and App Server was selli

I can't believe they did this kind of thing in 1999 - 2002 for WebSphere. That is the era where Enterprise Java, XML, and SOAP took off and App Server was selling pretty hot. Having said that, the 1999/2000 dotcom bust is different than if it was to happen today. In 1999/2000, open source wasn't as mature/diverse/strong as today so companies will buy commercial technology provided by SUN, Microsoft, IBM, Oracle. These days, majority of the VC backed companies are using FOSS software with minimum Oracle/Microsoft software (probably the ERP/Finance/HR modules).