| Intro | Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV | Part V (4.1) | Part VI (6.0) | Summary |
The server-side JavaScript approach improved BroadVision's product dramatically. Adding some Java support in version 5.0 was also a step in the right direction. The current version 6.0 adds full J2EE support and compatibility with BEA Systems' WebLogic. This should allow almost all customizations to be built in Java instead of C++. Whether this is entirely wise is another matter altogether.
My quibbles about the database structure have been addressed to some extent by introducing list tables and making it easier to create and manipulate new content types. The support tools (the Command Center and the Publishing Center) have improved, so that some of the messing about with configuration files has been replaced with point'n'click operations. Version 6.0 promises a web client version of the Command Center at long last (I have not confirmed this).
You're still stuck with BroadVision's narrow 'world view' and it is still a struggle to program outside BroadVision's box. The tax and shipping handlers are still ugly and poorly documented - even in version 6.0 these still require C++ development as far as I can tell. The purchase of Interleaf should have produced a slick XML-based publishing tool but BroadVision haven't integrated it properly yet - "One to One Publishing" aka BladeRunner (Interleaf's technology) has simply introduced a third way to publish content.
You may also want to read my notes about installing and comparing ATG Dynamo 4.0 to BroadVision.
The bottom line is: why on Earth would you want to spend millions of dollars on a proprietary system that seems to have no real Internet community, very little brand loyalty and, according to the stock price, is close to going out of business?
