Those of us who have been working with IS, XML and “the Web” for 7+ years now don’t seem to have the same problems as you are experiencing.
The lack of a simple tool for mapping XML schema dateTimes is rooted in the differences between how java deals with timezone offsets and how oddly W3C defines dateTime. Once you understand those differences, creating a very small java service to handle that is extremely simple.
Other than for one client who wanted to use IS java services to consume EJB methods via RMIIOP, I have never seen a need to create java services that came anywhere close to the 64K limit for classes. If you’re doing that, chances are you’re not using the tool as it was intended to be used.
Every major new release of any major commercial or open source product has tons of bugs these days. That’s why I have advised my clients on IS 6.5 to hold off on 7.1 for at least six months. I would say the same for major new releases of app servers, databases, SOA governance tools, development languages, etc.
My current project is using SpringWS and our team has already logged several bugs and suggested fixes. That doesn’t mean I’m going to throw out the baby with the bathwater and go back to Axis.
M