With cloud computing becoming ever more prevalent in the consumer space for rapidly scaling Web 2.0 applications, grid computing finally delivers similarly efficient scalability to the business world. Grid computing is an impressive, confident, powerful technology model, winning high-profile admirers as it approaches full maturity.

All new or emerging businesses are rightfully cautious of the big investment required to launch a successful web presence. A new cost-effective and time-saving service enables companies to fast track their strategic and tactical web initiatives while still actively growing their user base. Unlike past methods of web development, rapid prototyping is a back-to-front development process that allows the product user interface to be fully designed before writing any code.

When talking about the 'web' what are we referring to? For most people it's what can be experienced through their web browser including HTML, audio and video streaming, Flash-based animation, or rich Internet Application (RIA) interfaces. The key to this perspective is the web browser, which is viewed as essential for experiencing any type of content available via a hyperlink on the web.

As I've been stating for the past five years: if you want to provide real value to your enterprise, SOA should extend out of the firewall and into the Internet. However, this was not universally accepted by the rank-and-file SOA guys. Generally speaking, most viewed SOA as something that occurred exclusively within the firewall, and extending the reach of their SOA to Internet-based resources was taboo.

The mouse was the original idea of Doug Engelbart who was the head of the Augmentation Research Center (ARC) at Stanford Research Institute. Engelbart's philosophy is best embodied, in my opinion, in the design of another device that he invented, the five-finger keyboard - with keys like a piano, used by one hand. The problem was, Engelbart's five-finger keyboard and mouse combination was very difficult to learn.

It's what you don't see about the emerging Web that has everyone excited these days. Namely, it's the powerful application programming interfaces, or APIs. APIs are nothing new and have been traditionally cryptic and difficult to use. However, the advent of Web services along with the notion of mashups has changed the way we consider and leverage APIs going forward.

There are 8,909 books listed on Amazon.com with the word 'Investing' in the title; there are(!) 27,146 books with the word investment in the title. Without having looked at a representative sample, I can be confident that Sturgeon's Law applies - I suspect if I sampled enough of them I would find that 90% greatly underestimates the amount of junk in this particular area.

When it comes to Content Management Solutions (CMS), 'one size' does not fit all. When considering open source CMS for a real-world client experience, it's necessary to focus on the project needs, evaluate various CMS solutions in the context of these project needs, and to explore experiences with the strengths and weaknesses of the solutions.

M&S Consulting is a technology and strategy consulting firm that delivers enterprise process and technology solutions for mission critical objectives. As adopters of other Oracle Fusion Middleware offerings including Application Server, Portal, BI, and SOA Suite (BPEL/ESB/BAM), M&S Consulting has also embraced Oracle's new Fusion Middleware offering called ?Oracle WebCenter?. In this review, we take a closer look at the recently announced Oracle WebCenter Suite. We checked out the capabilities that are included in the current release and mapped them to a set of requirements that are common among the majority of our customers.

Ever since the term was first coined in 2004, Web 2.0 has generated an incredible amount of interest and momentum around Internet services. Web 2.0 services empower users to combine all relevant information into a single location so they can be more productive in their work environment. In addition, Web 2.0 enables users to form ad hoc associations with users inside and outside their organizations as part of a ?social network.? To do this, users need tools that allow them to quickly and easily assemble these services in a meaningful way.

When AJAXWorld Magazine's editor-in-chief Dion Hinchcliffe asked recently 'Is 'Web 2.0' Really About the Web, or Us?' he touched a vein.

In the beginning of 2006, Alex Iskold - after spending the last 10 years of his career programming in Java - took off his Java hat and started a Web 2.0 company called adaptiveblue. In this Web 2.0 Journal exclusive, he shares his insights on transitioning from Java into the Web 2.0 development world.

Different industries and market segments are adopting Web 2.0 systems at different rates, but Web 2.0 is here to stay. The main reason for resistance is not the technology changes Web 2.0 brings, but changes to traditional approaches to controlling customer and employee relationships. Still, there are practical steps you can take to help ensure the success of your enterprise Web 2.0 project.

At the O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference, Laszlo Systems today announced the planned extension of its advanced Ajax application development platform, OpenLaszlo, to support the delivery of applications in browsers with or without a Flash plug-in. By the end of this year, developers using OpenLaszlo will have the option to deploy their applications using either Flash or DHTML, an open-standard technology built into most Web browsers. Laszlo executives will preview the company?s DHTML deployment capabilities at the conference with a live demonstration, which is also accessible on the open source community site, www.openlaszlo.org.