SpringSource, VMware, and the death of the independent software vendor

Larry Dignan writes that VMware's purchase of SpringSource (formerly Interface21) has "sparked a fair amount of head scratching among analysts". It's mystifying developers as well. Purchases like this call into question the whole nature of the "independent software vendor", or ISV.

Compare this with Google's recent purchase of On2. On2 was struggling, having lost over $50 million last year. The company created valuable proprietary technology but didn't seem to have the resources or the marketing savy to really take that technology to the next level. They made a big impact in their day, but were in danger of fading into obscurity. You could consider Google's act a rescue, with a prospect for opening up their technology for others to use.

SpringSource, on the other hand, was an accidental and ongoing success. The Spring Framework developed around a book that Rod Johnson wrote in 2002 called "Expert One-on-One J2EE Design and Development". With Juergen Holler and others, Spring Version 1.0 came out in 2004 and quickly became the de-facto standard in the Java server framework space. Rod recognized a success when he had one, and he formed the company Interface21 in 2004 to monetize the open source project. The name was changed in 2007 to SpringSource, as Spring exploded out into a number of other areas such as rich clients.

Thanks to its open source license, Spring will live on. The creators have cashed in to the tune of $420 million. So what's the problem? In a word: independence.

The beauty of Spring is its simplicity and vendor neutrality. Developers turned away from J2EE because it too complicated and fraught with vendor lock-in. If you developed a J2EE application under WebLogic, chances are it wouldn't work under WebSphere, and vice-versa. With Spring, you just programed with plain vanilla objects, totally devoid of any vendor-specific keywords and logic.

Spring was close to perfect the way it was. The base framework is mature, and didn't need an infusion of cash for new development. Will that change with the VMware acquisition? What if somebody acquires VMware - will it change then? What if Rod or other key visionaries retire with their new-found wealth? Who represents the interests of Spring users in all this?

If you ask me, the industry needs a way for developers to cash in without selling out.