Mashware: the future of web applications

  • Authors:
  • Antero Taivalsaari

  • Affiliations:
  • Sun Microsystems Laboratories, Tampere, Finland

  • Venue:
  • Mashware: the future of web applications
  • Year:
  • 2009

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Abstract

The massive popularity of the World Wide Web is turning the web browser from a document viewing tool into a general-purpose host platform for various types of services, including desktop- style web applications. Web applications require no installation or manual upgrades, and they can be deployed instantly worldwide.This instant worldwide deployment aspect is incredibly powerful, and will dramatically change the way people develop and use software, allowing worldwide application development and instant deployment without middlemen or distributors. In this paper we present our vision for the future of web applications. A key observation in the paper is that web applications do not have to live by the same constraints that characterized the evolution of conventional desktop applications.The ability to instantly publish software worldwide, and the ability to dynamically combine code and content available from countless web sites and developers all over the planet will open up entirely new possibilities for software development. We believe that this will lead to a new software development approach that can be referred to as mashware, or software as a mashup. In this paper we provide an introduction to mashware, analyze the emerging mashup development technologies, as well as discuss the technical challenges and obstacles that still remain.