I've heard a lot about Maven, but I've never worked out what it actually does. It seems that Charles Miller is in the same boat.

James Strachan explains why he uses Maven, and what it does for him. Problem is, this sounds like what Ant does, and I know Ant isn't the same thing as Maven, so I'm still in the dark...

Update: James explains further. Maven doesn't do anything which Ant can't do - it saves you from a lot of the work. That's got to be a good thing.