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Web design embraces application servers:

If you've followed the exploits of the television series Star Trek: Voyager, then you know about the nearly omnipotent collective called the Borg, which roams around the universe assimilating entire cultures. ("Resistance is futile, prepare to be assimilated.") In Web-design software-land, we have two rather Borg-like collectives: Macromedia, Inc. (http://www .macromedia.com) and Adobe Systems, Inc. (http://www.adobe.com), each of which has demonstrated that it knows how to assimilate its competitor's products. Furthermore, the two companies have a long history of battling it out, product by product, whether it be Macromedia's FreeHand vs. Adobe's Illustrator in the vector graphics market, Macromedia's Flash vs. Adobe's GoLive in animation, or so on down the product line.

But when these two companies start battling for market share, standards are created and strategic directions for the Web are formed. So, the recent announcement that Macromedia will merge with the struggling Allaire Corp. (http://www.allaire.com) will provide yet another episode in the ongoing saga to decide which of the two design heavyweights is on top. Macromedia and Allaire signed a definitive agreement on January 16, and the acquisition is expected to become effective during the second quarter of this year. The combined company will be called Macromedia.

One prime plum that Macromedia wins in this merger is Allaire's application server product, ColdFusion, which will allow Macromedia to create an even deeper product line and advance into server functions. This month I'm going to briefly describe ColdFusion, the emerging area of application servers, and what this merger might mean for Adobe.

A Growing Market

Application servers have been getting a lot of attention in the Web-development world over the past year. And, as application servers are frequently married to other development aspects of maintaining a Web site, they can influence the direction a Web publisher may ultimately take in the creation and maintenance of a Web site. An application server is a program that handles (translates, actually) requests between the customer's browsers and the company's back-end databases and applications. For example, through an application server a customer could enter a ZIP code on a click-- and-mortar store's Web page and a list of all that company's brick-and-mortar stores within a 25-mile radius would be presented in HTML form.

Now wait, you might be thinking, isn't this what Perl scripting (typically used in common gateway interfaces [CGI]) or Java already do? Well yes, but each development approach alone has its own limitations and problems. Perl scripting is still a popular choice, but it doesn't have the higher-end level of development and management tools that increasingly complex Web sites now demand. Moreover, many design elements have to be coded into CGI scripts, and this makes it difficult for designers and HTML coders to change what software developers wrote into them.

Another popular way to get databases and HTML to work together is Java. But Java, like CGI scripts, is still pretty darn arcane, particularly for the many Web page designers who don't want to deal with the complexity of programming. In fact, according to Macromedia, the first priority will be to make ColdFusion compliant with Java 2 Enterprise Edition; this will be undertaken once the merger is complete.

ColdFusion, as an application server, is one of over 20 in the marketplace that serves to bridge this gap between the designers/HTML coders and the difficulties of programming in the software-development cycle. There are other contenders in this arena: Active Server Pages and JavaServer Pages are two biggies in the area of server-side scripting. But ColdFusion is considered to be a highly attractive alternative because it acts more like a markup language than traditional programming. As such, ColdFusion can offer a more rapid development process and is considered by many to be the best for its ease of use. Moreover, ColdFusion is the most mature entry in the application server field. So, assuming that Macromedia can properly marry ColdFusion to both Java and the Macromedia product line, this could ultimately create an integrated design and development platform.

Yes, Another Markup Language Simply stated, Cold Fusion Markup Language (CFML) is a tag-based markup language, like HTML, that can be used to create ColdFusion applications. The code editor is based on another Allaire product, HomeSite, which is considered to be both an excellent HTML text editor and-many would even say-superior to Macromedia's Dreamweaver (which currently holds the highest market share among professional Web designers). Actually, the fate of HomeSite should prove interesting to watch, as this product directly competes with the popular Dreamweaver.

What is particularly intriguing about CFML is how it provides tags for all of the useful functions available in mature programming languages, such as C++. For example, CFML has tags to implement e-mail interactions and database queries, which might normally require third-party modules. Instead of several or more lines of script, a single CFML tag can be deployed using ColdFusion. A Web application developer can also create custom tags within CFML.

CFML doesn't have all of the programming tasks that can be accomplished in Java, and quite possibly never will. But for most average Web site requirements, CFML can achieve the necessary programming tasks without needing the sophistication of higher-end Java functionality. This explains the rapid rise in the use of ColdFusion on Web sites over the past year and Macromedia's interest in acquiring the product line.

Where Does This Leave Adobe?

Macromedia and Adobe have been competitors for so long that one might easily predict that Adobe will respond to Macromedia with its own product-probably by acquisition-the way it acquired GoLive from CyberStudio in 1999 to compete against Macromedia's Flash. Except in this case, there appears to be no other application server product in the marketplace that can equal ColdFusion's maturity and popularity.

A factor that both companies will also keep in mind is that Microsoft is actually making inroads into the Web design and authoring market. Its FrontPage, for example, has been emerging of late as a highly regarded program, with reviews touting its ability to create Dynamic HTML animations and integrate Microsoft Access databases. It's not sophisticated enough to cause designers to toss out Dreamweaver, but now that Microsoft 2000 is finally out, a product line that successfully integrates development and design could be included in a forthcoming bag of Microsoft tricks. (Of course, if it wasn't for the Department of Justice's order to split up, I think Microsoft would consider a Borg-like maneuver and assimilate one of these companies into its fold.)

Adobe, with its strength in print and imaging, may decide to stay put and not pursue the route that Macromedia is taking. A review of Adobe's Web site suggests that the company is firmly promoting paper-to-digital (P2D) technologies, such as e-paper, and its Adobe Studio, which was still not released at the time of this writing. From a spectator's position, these two companies have made such great sport of competing against each other, it would be surprising if Adobe didn't rise to Macromedia's current challenge.

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