In this return to the Open source Java projects series, author Steven Haines introduces TomEE, explains how it differs from Tomcat, and helps you set it up in your development environment.

Maven provides consistent project structures, declarative configuration, and a wide range of plugins, along with a centralized repository for storing and downloading third-party software.

Project Harmony aims to create version of Java desktop software with an open-source license--something Sun has resisted in the past.