Party Like It's VT-100 Time

Those handful of folks who've followed this desultory philippic know that I've been banging a drum for Organic Normal Form™ databases running on multi-processor/SSD boxes from the beginning. As connectivity and bandwidth have progressed from dial-up to today, the infrastructure for VT-100s connected to *nix databases over a kind of long RS-232/RJ14 wire gets ever closer to reality. Whether COBOL indentured servants or Kiddie Koders (for the same reason, but different paths to that reason) will ever embrace the paradigm still isn't a lead pipe cinch.

Which brings us to the news of the ECMAScript development plan.

Citing other Web-related developments, Eich said WebRTC, a specification equipping browsers with real-time communications apps via JavaScript APIs and HTML5, would become a standard. The work of Google, Mozilla, and the IETF will make this standardization happen, said Eich, currently CTO at Mozilla. "It's really cool, and you can use it for data communications, too," he said, noting that browser support for WebRTC varies, with Mozilla's Firefox a bit behind Google Chrome.

While progress requires change, not all change is progress. In particular, the dumb data on a client with smart code (also on the client; fie!) paradigm embraced by both COBOL dinosaurs and java/PHP/fooBar Kiddie developers. Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated. Render unto Server that which is Server's.