Interactivity and collaboration on the WWW - is the 'WWW shell' sufficient?

The web and its associated technologies - Cgi-scripts, JavaScript and Java - have become a platform for the development and deployment of applications . Such has been the impact of these technologies that their combination has been likened to an Expert System Shell, and referred to by the term `WWW s hell'. This WWW shell it is claimed is particularly adapted to the developm ent of collaborative applications. This paper challenges this claim on thre e grounds: browser incompatibilities limit the potential benefits from clie nt-side processing technologies; the generic Common Gateway Interface as an application delivery mechanism is inadequate and the networking restrictio ns on Java applets constrain effective use of the latter as dedicated inter faces to remote applications. This argument is illustrated with respect to three case studies of practical collaborative applications of WWW shell tec hnology. The paper concludes by exploring the implications of new server si de technologies, in particular Java servlets for the future development of the WWW shell and the evolution of an 'Active Web'. (C) 2001 Elsevier Scien ce B.V. All rights reserved.