what is an enterprise class app? (was MapServer and Foundation naming)

[P Kishor]

Jason Birch wrote:
> P Kishor Wrote:
>> I still don't understand why no one is talking about MapServer +
> PostGIS.
>> That is about as enterprise as one's gonna get.
>
> Is that a red herring?  I don't like seafood, but I guess I'll bite :)

no, it was a legit question, and I am thankful you have answered,
because I do want this discussed. Because it can end up becoming a
smoke-screen for bigger issues.

>
> That combination does not address a number of issues that are commonly
> addressed by commercial solutions that are touted as "enterprise".
> Authentication and authorization (feature or layer level, not
> application level), geoprocessing, data update, SOA, and GUI
> capabilities are a few that come to mind and rank among the primary
> reasons I am not currently using Mapserver.  I don't dispute that the
> Mapserver/PostGIS combination is an enterprise-quality application, but
> it certainly does not meet all enterprise needs.

all of the above you speak of can be done with MapServer in
conjunction with other tools. Someone else also mentioned similar
qualities making for an "enterprise" class application. Stuff like
thread safety, Java and .net support, real database transactions,
user-session management, distributed servers were mentioned.

It is a matter of philosophy. MapServer itself does one thing, and
does it amazingly well. Give it an envelope and a bunch of query
params, point it in the direction of a datasource, and it will
generate a map and hand it to the webserver. Well, it can now send
that map as an image or as a WMS/WFS. The rest, it leaves it up to the
application. It does its job, does it exceedingly fast, and very
reliably.

I recently had the misfortune of working with WebSphere (hey! how
about "MapSphere"?). Man, what a boatload that was. Sure, it could do
a billion things, but when I wanted just a fast, nimble car, it
insisted on give me the entire car assembly line.

I personally would much rather use html/ajax for gui (I am not sure
how Autodesk's MapGuide does GUI... if it does it in any way that is
not web-compliant then I have little interest in it). I would use some
language level framework such as Catalyst or Maypole or Ruby on Rails
or Zope or... see, the freedom I get to choose my scaffolding.

I would leave the real db transactions to a real db such as... hey!
PostGres. PostGIS can do data updates.

I don't even know what SOA is other than the latest buzzword-du-jour.
I mean, isn't WMS/WFS SOA enough?

See, it is a matter of philosophy. I prefer small, separate tools that
do their job, and do it well. Then I want to glue them together. I can
mix and match them with my requirements, my capabilities, my budget,
etc.

Others might want to take all those itty-bitty pieces, mush them
together, create a 125 Mb download, and call it enterprise class.
Sure, it is a big world, and they can have their way. But, lord...
enterprises are not a new thing, and enterprise class applications
have been built for long time before the new marketing heads came and
started jacking up the price of things by prefixing them with "..
Enterprise." It is like the whole J2EE mess. Sounds sexy, but is a
pain in the derriere.

Anyway, thanks for taking the time and giving your perspective. I
disagree with it, but at least I have learned of another point of
view.