I was having a little dig around for some information on Stripes and came across an interesting post on Tim Fennell's blog entitled Everyone and their dog is using Struts, which is about how Struts is still the clear leader when it comes to Java EE web application development. One of the reasons for this that I've seen most frequently is as follows.

Managers/developers are not aware of the alternatives to Struts.

How very true that is, although it goes hand in hand with people wanting to use something that they are already comfortable with and experienced in. As an architect working for a consultancy, I always get asked for my recommendation about technology X or framework Y. I'll save the discussion about how I decide upon the best recommendation for later, but what I want to say here is that you owe it to your team/client to know about the alternatives, or to at least be aware of them. Knowing the alternatives puts you in a much better position to make and justify your recommendation, while showing that you've taken everything into account. Next time you get asked whether technology X is most appropriate, pause and have a quick look around for the alternatives. You might find something better that you didn't know about.

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Posted by Simon Brown on 10 March 2006 11:45:36 GMT #