"Skip" a version with EAP 7.0?

[stuart_wildcat]

I'm not sure the best place to ask this but figure this is the likely place to start...  My question is:

Would it make sense to "skip" EAP 6.0 and call the next release EAP 7.0?

I work for a company that does a lot of training and consulting for JBoss clients.  One thing we have noticed is that a lot of clients that are willing to pay for our services are also the ones that pay for a JBoss EAP subscription.  Truthfully this means that we have to balance between what is going on in the JBoss AS open source world with what is going on with JBoss EAP.

Lately I've been thinking a lot about how we will explain the versioning of some of the latest JBoss releases.  I'm not looking forward to it.  Right now if a client says "JBoss 6" that may mean very different things.  If they mean "JBoss AS 6.0" I would probably reply "That's not the version you want to be using because the 7.0/7.1 version is much better".  But if they mean "JBoss EAP 6.0" that is exactly not the thing I want to be saying to them as that will be the latest EAP version.

Also explaining that "JBoss EAP 6.0 is built on JBoss AS 7.1" is not a relationship I look forward to explaining.  I'm sure I'm not the only one as there are probably developers out there who may be already trying to figure out how to explain it to managers.

I realized recently that all of us in this position might have a much easier time if the versioning for the EAP simply "skipped" a version.  Certainly it might cause some initial confusion for JBoss to go from EAP 5.1 to EAP 7.0 and not have a 6.0 but I think this would be short lived.

Thinking from a product marketing perspective I would think having version numbers that are "off" between the two might also hurt the EAP.  After all, who might want to pick a "previous" version (EAP 6.0) when there is a "later" version (JBoss AS 7.0/7.1) out there.  I realize one is built on the other but again, not everyone is going to suffer through the explanation to understand that.  Most people will just think of things as "JBoss 6", "JBoss 7", etc.

Just a thought I figured I'd throw out there.  I figure now is the time to consider this instead of after JBoss AS 7.1 or EAP 6.0 is released.

[stuart_wildcat]

I guess this might be hard to change the branding of the next EAP to EAP 7.0 instead of EAP 6.0 since the jboss.com site already lists "JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 6" early access.

Still, until it is actually released, the version isn't set in stone.  I still think it makes a lot of sense to avoid having a disconnect between the versions that are out there.  I know a lot of clients that once they move to a new version they want to go to the "latest".  The EAP 6.0 would seem "old" to them compared to the JBoss AS 7.1 and probably harder to convince them to go for an EAP subscription if they think they will miss out on the "latest" even though that wouldn't be true.

It would be nice to get feedback from users out there if this disconnect in version number will cause confusion at their companies.

[morphy]

anyway... i like eap 6 instead of 7 because i feel it referenced to jee6 as jb7 wil be (web profile already is)

[stuart_wildcat]

I think the problem though is the same people that might make that association are also the ones that won't be as confused because they know the relationship between JBoss EAP/JBoss AS.

My concern is the group of managers, execs, etc (non-technical) people that will be confused why someone is recommending "JBoss 6" when all the hype in the JBoss community has been about "JBoss 7".  This group doesn't add the EAP/AS distinction as much which is critical.

Certainly wouldn't also help if JBoss competitors are spreading FUD about how JBoss 6 is "end of lifed" (meaning the JBoss AS 6) and can point to threads in this very forum to help spread that misinformation.

[stuart_wildcat]

I was thinking about this some more and realized the issue is probably not going to be as bad right now.  Once the EAP is released, if you say "JBoss 7" you will be referring to the open-source version and if you say "JBoss 6" you would almost certainly be referring to the EAP version, since using the open-source JBoss 6 wouldn't make as much sense now that the JBoss 7.x open source version is available.

When this will become more of an issue is with the next (Java EE 7?) version of the EAP.  At that point "JBoss 7" could have two very different but both realistic meanings.

Of course by that point the open source server would probably be up to JBoss 9.x or something since the open source project seems to have a tendency for "rip and replace" tactics that require releasing two versions of the open-source server between every version of the EAP.