4 C HAPTER 1 Vote for JBoss To open this chapter, we talk about what JB oss is and why it's so popular. The rest of the chapter guides you on how to dive in and get started with the JB oss Application Server ( JB oss AS ). We discuss how to install, how to start and stop, and how to deploy a basic application into the server. We also explore the structure of the application server and show you how to configure the server to suit your needs. 1.1 Introducing JBoss When Java first came out in 1996, many people created their own application infra- structures from scratch, reinventing the wheel for many aspects of their applications. The Java 2 Enterprise Edition ( J2EE ) specification--the predecessor to the current Java EE specification--aimed at creating a standardized application framework for enterprise applications development. In 1999, Marc Fleury started a small open source project called JB oss, which pro- vided an implementation of the Enterprise Java Bean ( EJB ) portion of the J2EE specifi- cation. As the project became popular, the developers started selling documentation, consulting services, and training. By 2001, Fleury and company incorporated as the JB oss Group, LLC, and started offering developer support services in 2002. In this same timeframe, they made available JB oss AS 3, which emerged to become a full- fledged J2EE application server that was competitive with proprietary application serv- ers such as WebSphere and WebLogic. NOTE The name of the project was originally EJB oss (Enterprise Java Beans Open Source Software). Sun didn't like the use of their EJB trademark, so the E was dropped from the project name, making it JB oss.