When Red Hat acquired JBoss in 2006 – it seemed like a good fit. Red Hat we’re similarly successful in proving that Commercial and Open Source can be used in the same sentence; did its bit (along with the rest of the Linux community) to disrupt incumbents. But what happened next was unexpected to some but rather predictable; JBoss lost it’s Mojo.

Why was this predictable ? Well JBoss (like any other successful startups) worked it’s exit strategy really well – they raised the volume on their marketing efforts; leveraged the personality cult that built up around some of it’s key staffers (Marc Fleury, Bill Burke, Gavin King, to mention a few). Basically – they sold when they we’re at the top of their game (and I’m talking about perception here). Post acquisition – integration takes it’s toll; people leave, productivity takes a hit and most importantly – things go deathly quiet – the buzz that made JBoss such an attractive acquisition to it’s suitors died off. Maintaining the kind of pre-acquisition momentum just isn’t a priority post acquisition – certainly compared to the hard work of integrating one organization into another.

If you’ve been in this industry for any amount of time – I’m sure you’ve seen this scenario play out before – it’s very common – too many examples to point to. Bucking the trend and maintaining momentum post acquisition is tough and there are too few examples to point to; more’s the pity.

So, did all the good people leave JBoss ? Nope – probably not (though some did); did the technology suddenly become uncompetitive ? Nope. Did the competition seize the moment ? Maybe – GlassFish has certainly done it’s best to fill the vacuum. But fundamentally, I agree with Matt Assay – I’m sure JBoss is still healthy and active; with the caveat that they really need to pick up the momentum this year. For another perspective (and one I don’t necessarily agree with) – ZDNet’s Dana Blankenhorn & Paula Rooney have written the acquisition off as a failure – though they do make an interesting, cautionary point about acquiring Open Source companies in general.