I applaud the recent announcement between JBoss (Red Hat) and Exadel.

JBoss, through Seam, is committed to JSF, the standard view framework for Java EE applications. The Exadel components represent a nice set of JSF-compatible chunks to help build rich applications, using AJAX and such.

To be honest, I'm still learning JSF myself.

But from a business model and community point of view, I think this initiative will play out nicely for all parties involved. A picture is worth at least a few dozen words.

Some time ago, Exadel gave the world Ajax4jsf, and released it at java.net. Today, they give the world RichFaces and Studio Pro. And we've shuffled it all over to JBoss.ORG. For JBoss, we've tapped a nice well of compatible top-shelf technology. For Exadel, they've focused on providing professional services instead of sharing their attention with product development and management.

Exadel will of course continue to participate in these projects, committing their current development staff, but ultimately they will be developed The JBoss Way.

I think we'll begin to see more moves like this. Already quite a few companies have opensourced their own products. Many times they will dump them at SourceForge. Other times they'll attempt to host them on their own. Depending on the community and opensource expertise at the company, this may or may not work. Exadel has taken a bold step by seeking a particular existing community to foster their projects in the world of opensource.