The Java enterprise edition was initially developed by Sun Microsystems and had the

name J2EE. In 2006, the naming and versioning schema was changed to JEE, and after

J2EE version 1.4 came JEE version 5. Since then, major updates have happened, and

versions JEE 6, JEE 7, and JEE 8 were released. In 2010, Sun Microsystems was acquired

by Oracle Corp. Under Oracle Corp., the versions JEE 7 and JEE 8 were released. In 2017,

Oracle Corp. submitted Java EE to the Eclipse Foundation, and there the name of JEE 8

was changed to Jakarta EE 8.

In the beginning of 2019, the transition from JEE 8 to Jakarta EE 8 was still ongoing.

So, depending on when you read this book, it could be that for online research on Jakarta

EE 8 you have to consult pages about both JEE 8 and Jakarta EE 8. This is something

you should keep in mind. To not complicate things in this book, we will only talk about

Jakarta EE.



there were not many Jakarta EE 8 servers released. There

are basically the following:

• Glassfish Server, Open Source Edition, from Oracle Corp.

• WildFly Server, from Red Hat

• JBoss Enterprise Application Platform, from Red Hat

• Websphere Application Server Liberty, from IBM

• Open Liberty, from IBM

These servers have different licensing models. Glassfish, WildFly, and Open Liberty

are free. This means you can use them without charge both for development purposes

and production. To run the JBoss Enterprise Application Platform a subscription is

required, although the sources are open. Websphere Application Server Liberty is

proprietary.