We're using JBoss and there's an updated version mostly every few weeks, months at most. Absolutely not years, that's totally ridiculous and tells me you've never really used Java EE.
JBoss still doesn't have a supported Java EE 7 server. JBoss releases still much less frequently than Spring. If you want to look at how quickly things are fixed in JBoss have a look at this:
https://issues.jboss.org/browse/SECURITY-746
If you need a feature in Java EE you have to wait several years for the next Java EE release and several years more for the next server release that implements this, see JBoss.
JBoss releases updates to its implementation rather frequently. If you look at their release dates it's almost every other month. See ftp://ftp.redhat.com/redhat/jbeap/
You're quoting an individual bug that has been open for some time. Did you also looked at the many bugs that were fixed after a few hours after being reported? Do you dare to state that Spring has no bugs or that none of their bugs is open for more than a day, week, month?
Java EE has a spec cycle of about 2 to 3 years (there was an article about this recently, Google it if you want). That's the time between 2 spec releases. It's about the same time as between major supported JBoss releases, so between EAP 5, 6 and 7. There's 3 to 4 years between major Spring releases (Spring 2 2006, Spring 3 2009, Spring 4 2013).
And Java SE doesn't release a major new version montly, let alone yearly either. A spec should move fast enough to stay relevant, but slow enough to provide the stability needed so lots of other technology can build on it.
> JBoss releases updates to its implementation rather frequently. If you look at their release dates it's almost every other month. See ftp://ftp.redhat.com/redhat/jbeap/
> Do you dare to state that Spring has no bugs or that none of their bugs is open for more than a day, week, month?
In about 50% of the times I have reported bugs or submitted pull requests against Spring they were closed within 6 hours. Spring releases about a month apart. The other 50% lay dormant for years. Still way better than any contribution I tried to make so far to Java EE. 0% success in about 6 tries.
> Java EE has a spec cycle of about 2 to 3 years (there was an article about this recently, Google it if you want).
That's skipping a lot of updates.
EAP 6.2.2: 1 month EAP 6.2.3: 2 months EAP 6.2.4 1 month EAP EAP 6.3.0: 1.5 months
Etc
>The other 50% lay dormant for years
So this exactly the same as with a Java EE implementation or any other open source project for that matter. Many get fixed in hours, others weeks or months and some years or simply never. Spring is not inherently better here as their track record proves.
That your personal reports were of no success maybe says more about yourself than of any Java EE implementation. I got many bugs fixed and have seen others reporting bugs that have been fixed in no time.
>Java EE 8: at least 3 years Java EE 7: 4 years Java EE 6: 3 years Java EE 5: 3 years
The actual time spend on the spec is less (see table).
Whatever number you look at, it's not that different from the major Spring releases, and Spring is a product even, not a spec.
> Whatever number you look at, it's not that different from the major Spring releases, and Spring is a product even, not a spec.
Spring releases are every month. When there is a bug in a Java EE spec (like the WebSocket/CDI integration or the CDI annotation scanning in EE 7) you have to wait for the next major spec version to fix it. The spec has to be "perfect" for 3 to 4 years because there is no way to fix it.
We're using JBoss and there's an updated version mostly every few weeks, months at most. Absolutely not years, that's totally ridiculous and tells me you've never really used Java EE.