New Servers, New Architectures, and Logic in the Database
By Ken North
If you are a Web developer faced with creating database-enabled pages, or a database developer faced with building Web-enabled applications, you have probably experienced the phenomenon known as "Web time." The computer industry has never been quiet, but recent years have been particularly frenetic. The popularity of the Web produced a flurry of software-development activity. New versions, new technologies, and new products appeared seemingly overnight. Web time became a useful phrase for describing compressed development cycles between new product releases and documentation that is obsolete before it arrives from the printer. During a Java class at the Software Development conference in April 1997, I displayed a slide about database tools. Although I had updated the slide the previous night, I warned the class it might be out-of-date by the end of the day. Because the JavaOne and Software Development conferences ran concurrently, new APIs and Java-developer products were introduced on a daily basis. Web time means rapid innovation, new products, frequent software updates, and a learning curve for developers.
The explosion of interest in the Web has produced a feeding frenzy, as companies rush to provide solutions for creating Web applications, as well as connecting existing applications and databases to the Web. This intense competition is the major influence driving Web time, and the competitive juices are found in both the Web and database arenas.
