Building the Next Killer Web 2.0 App

No-one thought MySpace could be topped but then along came Facebook. What’s next? And what software is available to help you to develop the next killer Web 2.0 application?

Check out the latest software projects from Sun to help jump start your Web 2.0 plans including:

• Project Mango - leverage free open source technologies to build middleware for Web 2.0 apps
• Project SocialSite - a new platform that lets you add social networking features to any Web 2.0 site or application
• Sun xVM VirtualBox - open source desktop and laptop virtualisation platforms that allow you to compile and build Web 2.0 applications across multiple platforms

Project Mango

The Web 2.0 era has transformed a world full of casual Internet users into a networked world of fully-fledged netizens by connecting them in new and open communities contributing their own content.

Project Mango is a new initiative to promote the use of Free Open Source Software (FOSS stack) in the enterprise middleware layer. This will allow developers to build advanced middleware features that are typically found in commercial J2EE, Portal, SOA and SSO solutions.

Mango is an acronym made up of its components:
MySQL And
Netbeans
Glassfish
Open (OpenESB or OpenSSO or OpenPortal or OpenSolaris)

Project Mango’s purpose isn’t to create a new product or technology but to demonstrate how enterprises can leverage open source technologies to harness Web 2.0 and achieve their business goals.

At the heart of Project Mango is MySQL, the open source database of choice for Web 2.0.

MySQL is just one of Sun’s open source offerings that enable new and fledging Web 2.0 companies to get a jump start. With more than 100 million copies of MySQL’s open source database software having been downloaded already many people are seeing the benefits.

Learn more about Project Mango
Download MySQL community edition
Read success stories

Project SocialSite

Sun is set to release binary code for Project SocialSite, a new platform that lets anyone add social networking features to any Web 2.0 site or application.

Project SocialSite is an open source project where the community is collaborating to build widgets and web services.

The key features of Project SocialSite include:

• A complete end-to-end user interface for social networking
• A flexible social graph repository
• Comprehensive JavaScript and REST API
• Scalability

As with many of Sun’s initiatives, Project SocialSite is a community project with all contributions welcome in any form – comments, code, documentation or good advice.

Join the community

Sun xVM VirtualBox

The Sun xVM VirtualBox, launched last month, is open source and freely available for immediate download.

The free and open source desktop and laptop virtualisation platform runs on all major operating systems and eliminates the need for tradeoffs or multiple hardware systems.

Benefits to Web 2.0 application developers include:

• Ability to compile and build own product
• Enables cross-platform, multi-tier applications
• Supports the Solaris OS, OpenSolaris, Windows, Macintosh OS X, and Linux
• Improves efficiency with intuitive blend of platforms and applications
• Provides remote access to guest virtual machines from anywhere
• Supports virtual server environments
• Protects existing hardware investments

Learn more about Sun’s xVM portfolio

Why communities matter

The Australian open source industry generates $500 million of revenue every year according to the Australian Open Source Industry and Community Census.

Sun is the largest contributor to the open source community. Without the input and feedback from developers and users open source technologies wouldn’t be able to evolve and innovate as quickly as they do.

The community is key to the development of the latest technologies and ensuring that they are ‘useable’ in the real world. Without the contribution of comments, code and advice none of these projects and technologies would be as advanced as they are.

Join Sun Developer Network to become part of a vibrant worldwide community of developers and gain access to cool stuff
Learn more about Sun’s Open Source Software