Axis 2 has been released

Java Web Service developers may rejoyce: Apache Axis 2 has been released as final! Apache Axis has been one of the first mature web service engine for Java and is still considered to be a very popular choice. Axis, like many other web service engines, suffered from some poor design choices as a result of a very heavy focus on RPC calls over HTTP. The SOA world has different demands, having a more XML centric view on Web Services, and more bias towards asynchrounous (reliable) protocols.

Axis 2 basically fixes all the problems I experienced with the Axis design in the past, and has become a much more flexible and more performant engine. On top of that, the WS-* support is coming along as well! This new release will make Axis once again an innovative open source web service solution, ready for the future. Unfortunately, Axis also has a reputation for releasing with some annoying bugs here and there, so be sure to test extensively (like you were doing anyway, right?).