I ran across an interesting article called J2EE Without the Application Server at the OnJava site. The author Guy Pardon writes about an interesting way to create a Java application. It is not exactly simple but when you are trying to use a JMS and access a database things tend to get complex no matter what you do. However, getting rid of the complexity of using a Java Application server interests me and in some strange way amuses me. I mean the people who create these things have spent a lot of time and energy to bring them to market. Pushing them to the side and declaring that we don't need them is kind of sad on one hand but very refreshing and liberating on the other.