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We don't get no respect. We go to Palm Springs for Web TechEd. We get to see the latest 'n' greatest Web development tools (like the upcoming version of Visual InterDev). Then we get to The Big Party. The one where Rodney Dangerfield was scheduled to appear. And where is he? Who knows? Vanished. Off coaching volleyball or wreaking havoc at a snooty golf resort or something. So where does that leave us? Actually, pretty excited. The undisputed highlight of the show was everyone's first glimpse of the new Visual InterDev. When you look at this product, you'll realize just how far Web development has come in less than three years. With this new release, you'll be able to debug your Web apps. That may not sound like much, but consider this: you'll be able to step through scripting code in the IDE (of course, with the ability to view and change variables on the fly), and seamlessly step from the client to the server and back. Think about that. You'll have true client/server debugging capabilities, all within a single window. And people still say that Microsoft doesn't "get" the Internet. There were a number of other recent developments that we've been trying to put into context as well, the most important of which concerns Java. People have been tinkering with Java for a while. For the most part, they've been impressed with some of the language's features, but there's always been that one sticking point: Java's not all that suitable for Web client development. Cross-platform is nice and all, but it also necessarily involves a dumbing down of each VM to accommodate the least efficient one out there. And after a couple of years, there simply aren't many sites that are doing much with Java. Most of what we've seen is limited to making buttons change color when moused over. Since you can now do all that with Dynamic HTML anyway, why bother doing it the hard way? The most significant sign that Java has a limited future as a client-side tool is the Sun site itself (http://www.sun.com). They've discovered what Microsoft found out months ago, and have dumped almost all their Java-based content in favor of far faster HTML implementations (with style sheets providing the flair). Speaking of no future, we've started to hear rumblings about the newest alphabet generation, the N-Generation. We recently read a Reuters article (in Newsday, February 15, 1998) about these up-and-comers. They're "a wave of 80 million media-savvy, energized, networked, innovative youngsters" who, among other things, will not stand for being assigned to cubicles, "find the notion of a boss somewhat bizarre," and won't "clean the windshields—they intend to kick the tires and redesign the cars." You know, "[e]ighty-five percent of them know more about computers and the Internet than both of their parents, so that for the first time in human history children are an authority on a topic of central importance to society." Now, we've never been accused of having a kung-fu grip on reality, but let's get real. First of all, if 80 million people are all highly qualified for any given job, you can find a replacement for that job easily. Easily replaceable people don't get to choose whether they get a cubicle, unless the other option is a hallway. The digital savvy one gets by designing a crummy warez page doesn't translate well into real-world skills. People who find the notion of a boss somewhat bizarre usually think they know how to do it all, which always works out well when it comes to group dynamics. But the kicker is the last quote above. The first time in human history children know more than their parents? This myopic statement in search of a story leaves out, oh let's see, the entire history of immigrant families in America where the kids learned English in school. (And the Internet is important, but hardly the topic at the center of society today. I bet you can think of ten things you'd trade the Internet to fix, from AIDS to poverty.) So why is this particular age group going to dominate the world? As the article points out, "they are the 'echo' of the post-Second World War baby boom generation." You know, the one that now runs everything around here. And interestingly, now that their kids are coming of age, they're going to be successful, not slack-jawed like us Gen Xers. Is that why we don't get respect? Our slack jaws? Keep those resumes coming, kids, and good luck! —J.T. Special Palm Springs Quiz!
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