WebObjects

WebObjects is a Java web application server from Apple Inc., and a web application framework that ran on the server. It was available at no additional cost. Its hallmark features were its object-orientation, database connectivity, and prototyping tools. Applications created with WebObjects could be deployed as web sites, Java Web Start desktop applications, and/or standards-based web services.

WebObjects was created by NeXT Software, Inc., first publicly demonstrated at the Object World conference in 1995 and released to the public in March 1996. The time and cost benefits of rapid, object-oriented development attracted major corporations to WebObjects in the early days of e-commerce, with clients including Disney, Dell Computer, BBC News, Merrill Lynch, Motorola, DreamWorks SKG, GE Capital, and Fannie Mae. However, following NeXT's merger into Apple Inc. in 1997, WebObjects' public profile has languished in the marketplace. With many early adopters having since switched to alternative technologies, Apple remains the biggest client for WebObjects, relying on it to power its online Apple Store, MobileMe online services, and the iTunes Store — WebObjects' highest-profile implementation to date.

The deployment runtime is pure Java, and Apple allows users to deploy WebObjects applications on any platform which supports Java. One can use the included WebObjects Java SE application server or deploy on third-party Java EE application servers such as JBoss, Apache Tomcat, WebLogic Server or IBM WebSphere.

WebObjects was cut as a default install from Apple's Snow Leopard Server operating system. Shortly after this move, Apple ceased promoting or selling WebObjects. As of 2012, WebObjects is actively supported by its developer community, the "WOCommunity Association", by extending the core frameworks and providing fixes with Project Wonder, an open source project built on top of the core WebObjects frameworks. The organization last held a Worldwide WebObjects Developer Conference, WOWODC, in 2012.