Why no more Web Server?

Update: It seems that Oracle has somehow resolved this problem. Web Server 7.0.14 is available here. I guess I need to go back to supporting this small community of users.

Looking over old posts, I see that I used to write quite a bit about Netscape Enterprise Server / iPlanet Web Server / SunONE Web Server / Sun Java System Web Server / Whatever Oracles Calls It Now. I also note that I don't write about it any more. Not that anyone has asked for an explanation, but I feel I should explain why the content in that area has dried up.

To begin with, I was laid off from Sun in Jan of 2009. This certainly made it hard to want to invest any effort in continuing to write about and support their product. On the other hand, I HAD worked with, on, and around that product for 12 years, so I continued (and still do, really) to be passionate about the technology and the fantastic team of people that produce it. So - I still wrote about it.

Since the Oracle acquisition of Sun, though, it has become extremely clear that they (Oracle) have no interest in a community of individual users spreading the word about their products, using them for free (or at least inexpensively), and providing support for each other. The most obvious way they have made this clear to me is by moving updates to Web Server behind their support pay wall, ceasing to push updates to Open Web Server, and steadfastly refusing to comment publicly about whether these actions are simply oversights or are intentional.

Since Oracle no longer offers updates to individual users, and refuses to respond to requests for information about how an individual can acquire the updates, I have elected to stop writing about the server. If the moribund Open Web Server gets branched I will happily contribute to the pool of knowledge that exists for it.