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The old software model dies here
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04/12/2006, By Phil Wainewright
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That future generation of applications gives business users the power to select and present real-time information exactly how they want it with just a few mouse clicks; allows developers to roll out new functionality instantly to next-generation mobile devices without recoding; and is deployed on infrastructure software that costs nothing to acquire. This future vision is not vaporware; it's available now. It can be up and running in your organization this year. The only catch is, it's not available from a single vendor … yet. But that's only a matter of time and M&A.
My first example is one that's garnered the least coverage, and yet in many ways it's the most spectacular. Last week, NetSuite announced version 11 of its on-demand business suite, which it will be delivering across its customer base in a phased roll-out over the next three months. NetSuite isn't really thought of as a technology pioneer, but it's been using AJAX technologies for far longer than the term AJAX has existed — I remember being blown away by the richness of its web-based user interface several years ago, when it first introduced its real-time business dashboard concept.
The current release really pushes the envelope of what's possible using AJAX technologies, particularly in its reporting interface, which allows users to design or modify report layouts in a drag-and-drop WYSIWYG environment that's so intuitive you don't have to think about it all. You can search for field names, drag them into the report layout, drag them again to rearrange the layout, and then publish or print the report — and all this with live data. You can even make the data editable, right there in the report, if that's an appropriate thing to do.
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