[thelist] Several questions for year overview

[Peter-Paul Koch]

Hello all,

I'm going to write an overview of what happened in web development land in
the past year. (It's for a Dutch online magazine, so most of you won't be
able to read the final article).

Since I don't know too much about the various server side technologies,
especially, I'd like your help with some points.

I'd appreciate a quick overview of technical issues, but what I'm really
looking for is some information about market share and such.

Did the new versions of the various products succeed in conquering some
market share? Does the new version of any product truly use new concepts and
ideas, or is it just an upgrade?

1) .NET . Has it succeeded in making an impact beyond the traditional ASP
market? Personally I'd say No, it just seems like a new ASP version to me,
but I'm not heavily into Microsoft technology so I may be wrong.

2) Perl v. 6 (I think). Is it substantially better than the previous
version? Is it possible to explain to non-Perl-geeks what the difference is?

3) Java. I've got the feeling that the various Java server side technologies
are used more often. True or false? The Java client side applet seems to
have died a quiet death, though.

4) PHP, anything new?

5) Other server side technologies?

Other questions:

6) I have the feeling that there are far fewer banners than a year ago. Do
you agree or disagree?

7) Are there any new concepts in interaction or graphical design that have
made a substantial impact? Personally I'd say No. Of course many beautiful
and interesting sites have been made, but I haven't seen radically new ways
of showing a site or interacting with the users, just upgrades of older
ideas. Or am I wrong?

8) Flash MX. Is it just a new Flash version or is it fundamentally better?

Thanks for any comments,

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ppk, freelance web developer
Interaction, copywriting, JavaScript, integration
http://www.xs4all.nl/~ppk/
Column "Keep it Simple": http://www.digital-web.com/columns/keepitsimple/
What shall we do with the W3C DOM?:
http://www.evolt.org/article/What_shall_we_do_with_the_W3C_DOM/4090/47311/index.html
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