WHERE IS CLIENT-SERVER SOFTWARE HEADED

Business software applications account for more than half of the indus trial software pie, so it's not surprising that these applications are occupying the thoughts of IT managers, programmers, and analysts. The se experts are thinking about them in terms of distributed computing. In its present form, distributed computing is actually client/server c omputing, which is just a step toward the decentralized, peer-to-peer collaborative computing utopia predicted for the 21st century. The aut hor outlines information technology as it evolved from the days of cen tralized mainframes to desktop PCs and relates the impact on programme rs of new development technologies accompanying the evolution. Several promising software ideas are examined, especially distributed softwar e, which affects everyone in computing because it seems to be the econ omic engine propelling all software. Distributed software's underlying infrastructure, called middleware, is also discussed. Middleware is k ey to the fortunes of software manufacturers because it will become th e infrastructure of all applications, from home computers to large-sca le enterprise computers. The two approaches discussed here are OLE/COM from Microsoft and Opendoc/DSOM from Component Integration Laboratori es. In examining the driving forces behind industrial software and its ongoing evolution, the author defines a taxonomy for distributed comp uting, looks at interoperability issues, explains the role of object t echnology, and describes the possible eventual outcome of client/serve r computing.