Man, I really wish the problem were resources. I, myself, am a supporter, a fan, a experienced developer of, an advocate of WebObjects. I personally have some issues with the fact that the native tools are gone (when and if I get to WO5.4). But as far as the business's decisions to nix WebObjects are the first two items:
1. WebObjects is proprietary
2. New versions of WebObjects are not supported on Windows
If Apple would just take care of ONE of these two, the company would be super happy! *I'D* be happy! And we could get on with our lives. THEN, with the continued development with WebObjects I could ask you, James, for help and whatnot, or even get the ok to get another WebO guy in here! (Sorry, somehow people have been starting to say "WebO" to the chagrin of many)
As for your response, Jeff, we have 3 developers (including me). The main developer is the director of technology. She's big on POJO, big on "standard" Java development, interested in RIA w/ OpenLaszlo, big on opensource stuff (I think her next plan is to use Java Server Faces w/ Struts), and has inherited an app that uses WebO for just session management and HTML rendering (UI). And she has decided to go OpenLaszlo w/ Struts on top of the existing Java-based core. Tools (for others, not me -- I requested a Mac) are Eclipse/WOLips. She let me have a Mac but often pops up the questions of unknown [Mac] platform issues even as I report that I account for any issues (which are really none -- I use XP on Parallels to run our apps and setup is a bit convoluted -- don't get me started). Yep, I'm a Mac guy thru and thru. I agree with you that WebO is much better designed, but somehow that is not evident to the powers that be. As for Linux, we have a .NET (black box) app we interface with and got a deal on DELL servers (I don't think XServes are ever getting in here).
In general, we ARE in good shape ... with the exception that I've started working on an OpenLaszlo/Struts app (which is on hold) and am now on JSFaces development. I would LOVE to get back to WebO and even show them EOF! But perhaps it's too late. The only thing that can turn it around is the changes mentioned above (proprietariness and/or Windows support).
= Robert =