The winner of the 2005 contest is Java Web Service Developer Pack. Almost 50% of the Developer.com voters opted for this software suite from Sun Microsystems.

Some new and exciting features in the latest release of Java WSDP that might have influenced the voters include:

Sun Java Streaming XML Parser

Java WSDP 1.5 includes an EA implementation of Sun Java Streaming XML Parser Version 1.0, a high-performance implementation of StAX, the Streaming API for XML. StAX is the standard Java-based API for pull-parsing XML, which complements the existing SAX and DOM parsing models by allowing the programmer to explicitly ask for next events.

XML Web Services Security

XML Web Services Security is an implementation of the Web Services Security (WSS) specification developed at OASIS. Java WSDP 1.5 includes the following XWS-Security features:

• Support for securing JAX-RPC applications at the service, port, and operation levels
• A sample security framework within which a JAX-RPC application developer will be able to secure applications by signing and verifying parts of SOAP messages using XML Digital Signature APIs, and encrypting and decrypting parts of a SOAP message using XML Encryption APIs. The message sender can also make claims about the security properties by associating security tokens with the message. An example of a security claim is the identity of the sender, identified by a user name and password
• Sample programs that demonstrate using the framework
• Command-line tools that provide specialized utilities for keystore management and the like.

In general, the various features that might have distinguished Java WSDP from other similar Web services software include:

1. Free software
   A programmer is free to try out Java WSDP without any worry about cost and get started developing Web services.
2. Frequent releases
   Sun has come out with new releases of Java WSDP every few months. This establishes a defined development path in the product’s life cycle, as well as strong bug fixing and attending to various user requests on behalf of the parent company.
3. Simplicity
   Java WSDP is a working Java programmer’s product. It does not provide any colourful, heavy environment. Instead, it provides command-line utilities and supplementary material that enable a developer to write customized solutions.
4. Wide range of implementations: A complete collection
   Java WSDP provides a rich set of utilities for the Web services developer, with additional security tools and updated XML-related standards.
5. XML Security
   Java WSDP includes implementations for message-level security in Web services using XML and Web Services Security (XWS-Security), including the ability to generate and validate XML signatures using XML Digital Signatures API and encrypt and decrypt the message using XML Encryption APIs.
6. Java Community
   Java WSDP targets the Java developer community, which is one of the largest of its kind.
7. Professional documentation, tutorials, and online help
   This is one area where Java WSDP scores way above many powerful open source products. The documentation is professionally done and self-explanatory, supplemented by sample programs and online tutorials.

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