According to Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) official updates, the WebObjects Java-based web application framework which was one of Steve Job’s favorite projects, has been finally confirmed obsolete. It’s now twenty years after WebObjects was first released to the public.
The End of the WebObjects era was revealed by Hugi Thordarson, the Java and WebObjects developer. Thordarson said that he had been regularly sending letters to Tim Cook, the Apple Chief Executive Officer, enquiring about the state of WebObjects.
He wrote online that Apple executive relations contacted him recently regarding his questions. He spoke to the Apple executive relations several times with no progress about the state of WebObjects. Later, Hugi was called again and this time obtained precise information that WebObjects has been discontinued and will never be upgraded.
If you’ve never heard of WebObjects, you are not alone. Back in the 1990s, WebObjects was considered a breakthrough product. It was one that Steve Jobs was proud of, and officially approached Apple as part of a deal to merge with his former company NeXT. Aspects of WebObjects are used to run its iTunes Store as well as Apple Store.
Apple updated it in 2008, one year after the iPhone first shipped. In 2009, Apple ceased including it with the Mac OS X Server.
Despite the confirmation that WebObjects is obsolete, it still has its enthusiasts, who have kept the name alive via a developer community known as WOCommunity Association. The group is also responsible for project wonder which is viewed as an open source project constructed based on the core WebObjects frameworks. Also, the WOCommunity Association hosts irregular WOWODC events – WebObjects Developer Conference.