VisualCafe users confront sell-off

August 19, 2002 (Computerworld)

When long-struggling WebGain Inc. sold off its popular VisualCafe development tool last week, users were left with some serious decisions to make about how to build and maintain their Java applications going forward.

They can stick with the tool and wait to see how TogetherSoft Corp. in Raleigh, N.C., follows through on the acquisition and its pledge to indefinitely support WebGain Studio, a suite of tools which includes VisualCafe. VisualCafe was at one time the market-leading Java integrated development environment.

Another option is to switch to a different tool, such as TogetherSoft's ControlCenter or Borland Software Corp.'s JBuilder, the current Java IDE market leader, according to Mark Driver, an analyst at Gartner Inc.

Scotts Valley, Calif.-based Borland wasted no time pursuing WebGain's customers. Just two days after the TogetherSoft announcement, Borland and BEA Systems Inc. in San Jose announced a deal to sell a version of JBuilder integrated to work with BEA's popular WebLogic application server.

That's a significant turn of events, since BEA was an original investor in WebGain. BEA Vice President Byron Sebastian said BEA will now recommend JBuilder, WebLogic Edition, which is due next month, as the Java IDE customers should use for its application server. BEA will continue to have partnerships with vendors such as TogetherSoft, Rational Software Corp. and Sun Microsystems Inc., however.

The BEA/Borland offering may hold some allure for companies such as The Bear Stearns Cos. in New York. A significant reason why the firm invested in VisualCafe was its good integration with BEA's WebLogic, said Sue Picus, managing director of the firm's architecture office. Other reasons included cost and its solid debugger, she said.

Picus said both the TogetherSoft and BEA/Borland camps are already making "a big pitch." But, she said, "we're just laying back. What we have is meeting our needs, so there's no real reason to change." Her main concern is the level of support TogetherSoft will provide for existing tools, "as opposed to just trying to convert the WebGain customers into using their suite."

Switching tools can have time and cost consequences.

Houston-based United Space Alliance LLC, a service contractor for NASA, used VisualCafe on a joint project with Russian developers to build an inventory management system that astronauts use on the International Space Station. Frank Wood, manager of space operations computing, said that the application is complicated and that its four developers would need months to migrate it to another tool. A particularly challenging aspect would be switching user-interface elements to the new development environment, he said.

But Wood said his company may consider moving to another tool for the support and upgrades that it needs in order to maintain its application.

Hoping for Best

Jim Jackson, manager of software development at the Birmingham, Ala., employee benefits division of SunGard Data Systems Inc., expressed hope that TogetherSoft will maintain its partnerships and bundled products and follow through on the unreleased 7.0 version of WebGain Studio.

Keith Boswell, vice president of marketing and business development at TogetherSoft, said the company will look at the 7.0 version to "see how far along it is." He said no decision has been made about whether the product will be released or whether some of its code will be transferred to TogetherSoft's technology.

But Driver said he would be "completely shocked" to see TogetherSoft do anything more with the WebGain product than simple support. He recommends that users get off VisualCafe within nine to 12 months.

Mike Gilpin, an analyst at Giga Information Group Inc., said it wouldn't be unreasonable for corporate users to wait six months to see what happens. "TogetherSoft does make good development tools, so at least it's the right kind of general company to take over the care and feeding of the product," he said.

WebGain's slow demise has been apparent to many users for at least six months, but a WebGain spokeswoman said the San Jose company continues to operate, with a "greatly reduced staff." She said WebGain has one product, Application Composer, that it's trying to sell, and the company continues to receive revenue, pay bills and work on "postsale support obligations." Prior to the TogetherSoft deal, Oracle Corp. acquired WebGain's TopLink object-to-relational mapping framework in June.

WebGain cited growing competition and depressed IT spending as factors in its decision to leave the tools market.

RISE AND FALL JANUARY 2000 WebGain, a start-up formed by Warburg Pincus Ventures and BEA Systems, acquires VisualCafe from Symantec. MARCH 2000 WebGain launches flagship product, WebGain Studio. WebGain acquires Tendril StructureBuilder, a suite of tools for designing and deploying Enterprise JavaBeans. APRIL 2000 WebGain acquires TopLink, an object-to-relational database mapping framework, from The Object People. JULY 2000 WebGain acquires Java application assembly technology from Zat. JANUARY 2001 WebGain acquires Bloomsbury Software, establishing professional services for Europe. MARCH 2001 Intel Capital invests in WebGain. SEPTEMBER 2001 WebGain withdraws registration of initial public offering. JUNE 2002 Oracle acquires WebGain’sTopLink product line. AUGUST 2002 TogetherSoft acquires Web-Gain Studio.