The presentation by Nicolás Jodal focused on the "GeneXus radar" metaphor, a
radar to watch the development of key issues for the GeneXus community.
"GeneXus radar" is used to construct the future rather than to predict it,
explained Nicolás Jodal, vice-president of ARTech. Through this "radar" we watch
what is going on in the industry, we discuss news from the world of Java and
.NET, the world of applications and of GeneXus, he explained.
Jodal commented that Java and .NET platforms continue to grow in the
industry, displacing former platforms. When talking about the world of Open
Source, he highlighted the growth of MySQL, the support of which is being
launched in the new GeneXus version.
He also talked about new developments expected in user interface, in
particular the new Microsoft user interface Avalon, and the ideas of Googles
user interface Ajax.
He commented on the appearance of Google as an interesting player in the
industry, that uses innovative architecture based on thousands of low quality
servers, launched the idea of Ajax and that has started to show successful Web
client applications such as Google Desktop Search.
He also pointed out, as another new element in the industry, that the model
of software as service is starting to work, and mentioned examples outside the
GeneXus community, such as Sailforce.com and Netsuite.com, and within the
GeneXus community, the ERP Lisa from the Chilean company Browse, and the Human
Resources application MAP, of MSB Argentina, that are already operating under
this sales mechanism.
Finally, he pointed out that the industry is only just now starting to
envision the model already defined by GeneXus: declaring instead of programming.
This is in the minds of the supporters of Model Driven Architecture (OMG) and of
those who support Domain Specific Languages (Microsoft), and it is a good thing
for GeneXus.
In a general comment on the future of applications, Jodal reviewed issues
that have been in the "radar" for some time now: multi-platform applications,
multi-devices and Web. He said that the GeneXus community is delivering this
type of applications, and mentioned several GeneXus applications with these
characteristics that are now in production in Java and .NET. Many of the most
important GeneXus software houses have some of their applications on Web. He
also mentioned the interest of the GeneXus community for the .NET Mobile
generator and multi-devices applications.
However, he proposed three new concepts to be added to the "GeneXus radar"
multi-metaphor, customization and integration.
He explained that nowadays applications need to be multi-metaphor, providing
multiple views according to user functions. For example, for the user who
performs a task, the right metaphor is the Inbox of Workflow, for someone who
needs to navigate for information, such as an account executive, the proper
metaphor is "work with", while a director wanting to explore information finds
the exploration metaphor in GXquery and GXplorer.
Jodal pointed out that
customization will add value to future applications by permitting to set
parameters by country and by process. Although GeneXus applications do this
already, Jodal wants GeneXus to provide further facility in this area, and
proposed as the best solution the use of declarative rules defined at setup
time.
Concerning the integration and use of Web Services, he said that while
there is a growing number of Web Services applications in the world of GeneXus,
a lot remains to be done.
To summarize, Jodal stated that ARTechs research area is interested in
solving the customization problem aiming at runtime rule definition; in
deepening Web type user interface, in the integration of tools surrounding
GeneXus (own or third partys), and in the improvement of offline-online
communication between applications that operate connected.
"We want all this in order to build applications with GeneXus that would be
impossible to do manually so that our customers can have increasing importance
in the software industry in the world market", concluded
Jodal.