V - VIII GeneXus Meetings :: The Meetings through time :: Years 1994, 1995, 1996 and 1997

Why GeneXus Client/Server? This was the idea around which the V International GeneXus User Meeting was held on September 14-16.

Why GeneXus Client/Server?

Artech considered Client/Server systems a significant future trend. Although the general idea at the time was that the development of Client/Server applications was very complex, Artech dared develop them with GeneXus in an easy way based on the following main pillars: the use of graphic interfaces and the graphic display of information; the simultaneous access of multiple servers to databases; the option to migrate platforms automatically.

Parallel to the Meeting, the I Knowledge Bases Exhibition was held, where software houses from different countries presented their knowledge bases developed with GeneXus.

The number of participants reached 450 people, 130 of whom were foreign clients and distributors (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, USA, Ecuador, Spain, Italy and Peru).
Breogán Gonda spoke about the global development of GeneXus, referring to the company’s expansion not only in Latin America but also in Europe and the USA where it was represented by GeneXus INC. Within this context, Artech soon opened an office in Chicago, USA.

GeneXus in the short and medium term

Nicolás Jodal announces GeneXus innovations. GeneXus 3.3 (Pando), DBMS UDB and FoxPro for Windows are released. The development team listens to suggestions and presents GeneXus developments for Windows. In Uruguay, Artech receives the recognition of ACDE (Association of Christian Business Managers) for its successful business management. As the title of an article in newspaper El Observador (March 21, 1994) states, “It is the creativity of Artech that sells GeneXus around the world.”
 

What was going on in the technology field?

The first text-based search engine is released: WebCrawler.

Client/Server applications take over: downsizing or rightsizing — as the migration of systems from large mainframes to medium sized systems and from these to computer networks was called — was the drive behind the development of Client/Server applications. In this architecture, the processing capability is distributed between clients and servers, but the advantages in terms of organization are more important because of the centralization of information management and the division of responsibilities, which provide an easier and clearer system design. The division between client and server is a logical division where the server does not necessarily run on a single machine and is not necessarily a single program. Specific server types include Web servers, file servers, mail servers, etc.

It’s held on September 20-22 at Montevideo Town Hall, together with the II GeneXus Knowledge Bases Exhibition.

The new GeneXus version with Windows graphic interface is introduced (GeneXus 5.0, the first version with Windows interface, Oracle /DBMS UDB, and Visual Basic, FoxPro for Windows generator).

Regarding the technological transition — mainly from DOS systems to Windows — at the global level, Breogán Gonda says:
“Without even realizing it, we have entered a new revolution in the IT field. Graphic interfaces and Client/Server architectures are replacing terminals and a large part of centralized systems. These changes have not and will not be completed overnight. Therefore, we need to understand that we’re going through a transition period (…) Information is probably one of the most important resources we have in order to face the current situation. Knowing what is happening in other countries and other companies may prove invaluable. These experiences are varied, including the implementation of Client/Server systems, the migration of DOS systems to Windows and the use and implementation of systems with GeneXus 5.0. In this Meeting, we’ve included a number of presentations on emerging technologies such as EDI, OLAP, object-oriented databases and Internet by those who have devoted a lot of time to researching these topics. Some of these technologies are not yet present in today’s GeneXus, but they should be part of GeneXus in the future.”

GeneXus has over a thousand clients.

What was going on in the technology field?

Internet access is no longer limited to the academic or military field; it becomes global.

Netscape browser — created by Marc Andreessen — is launched.

Jerry Yang and David Filo — two Engineering students at Stanford University — create Yahoo!, the most famous search engine during the Internet’s early times.

Amazon (Jeff Bezos), the first virtual bookstore, sells its first book and kick starts e-commerce.

Microsoft launches Internet Explorer, its official browser included in its Windows operating system.

eBay is founded and online auctions begin to take place.

The powerful Altavista search engine is launched.

The VII International GeneXus Users Meeting is held on September 17-19 at the Victoria Plaza Hotel. The number of participants is significantly higher than in the previous meeting: around 850 people participate in this event.

The III Knowledge Bases Exhibition is also held.

Within the Windows environment the time comes for the release of GeneXus 5.5 / Web Panels/ Multiple forms/ DBMS UDB, Oracle, Informix and SQL Server /Visual Basic, FoxPro for Windows, C/SQL Server Generator. The first Client/Server generator is released.

The innovations in the new GeneXus version were based on three pillars:

-Internet: WWW dynamic pages generator that allowed the database to be connected to the Internet.

-Client/Server: generators for DB2, Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server and Informix.
-Windows: Visual Basic generator.

There was also GeneXus DOS 3.3, but no further updates were released for this version.

The new GeneXus 5.5 version was the first one to be marketed in CD ROM.

Nicolás Jodal announces the participation of Artech in IBM’s San Francisco project — the IBM Rochester labs’ software development project of which only 15 software companies from around the world took part.

Artech already had its own web page, where business and technical frequently asked questions were replied and where the knowledge base catalog was published.

National Engineering Award

Artech receives the National Engineering Award for GeneXus and the Uruguayan Association of Engineers distinguishes Breogán Gonda for his outstanding career as an Engineer. Artech also receives the Microsoft Excellence Award.


What was going on in the technology field? 

Hotmail, a new mail system that will later be acquired by Microsoft, is released.

Java, an object-oriented programming language, is developed by Sun Microsystems in the early 90s. The language derives much of its syntax from C and C++, but has a simpler object model and does away with low level tools, such as direct handling of pointers or memory, which can cause many errors.

A thousand people from all over the world participate in the VIII GeneXus Users Meeting on September 2-4 at the Victoria Plaza Hotel.

Among them, the number one IT author Ken Orr participates.

In his presentation, Breogán Gonda stated, “In the technology front, there's a particularly robust emerging standard: JAVA, which was born out of a private development and over the last year has harvested the unanimous support of the IT industry. Artech firmly believes that JAVA applications will be truly important in the near future and, therefore, has invested a lot in generators and new architectures for this environment.”

Nicolás Jodal referred to the chance that GeneXus may run 100% in a client/server environment under a browser, “We believe it is possible and necessary. This is why we’re working on that generator, so that when the moment comes, we and the industry around JAVA are all well positioned. It may not seem real today; but in 1998, it will be a need.”

The growth of Artech staff

Artech’s work team had also grown — it grew from less than 10 people to around 50.

In 1997, Artech released GeneXus 5.6 Setup Wizard and GXplorer, and worked on GeneXus for JAVA.

What was going on in the technology field?

The Net already has a million sites. It is said that the “bubble” started by then — a very strong speculation trend that led to the “dot-com bubble” to burst in 2001.

The first blog is published. John Barrer calls his site — where he brings together publications from around the Net — weblog, and defines it as a regularly updated web site that gathers content in chronological order.