April 18, 2007
The LAMP stack
You are probably starting to hear people talk about "LAMP" or the "LAMP stack". This is an acronym that means Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP. The P can also stand for Python and/or Perl. LAMP is a very popular and powerful open source web application development and deployment system. Linux is the operating system, Apache is the web server, MySQL is the database server and PHP (and/or the other 'P' languages), with associated HTML and CSS, provide the interface and interactivity.
This is amazing. With all of the resources that the big companies use for product development -- literally billions of dollars and some of the brightest people on Earth -- they haven't created a solution as cool as LAMP. Open source, 1, commercial software, 0.
With the adaptation of LAMP, the economy has "lost the sale" in one very narrow sense, because companies aren't laying out thousands of dollars to pay for commercial web deployment software. To build out a cluster of Microsoft servers is incredibly expensive. To roll out a LAMP cluster, by comparison, is cheap. The company spends less and gets more and part of the budget is deployed elsewhere, a serious competitive advantage.
Now throw in the fact that companies like Apple and IBM are bundling LAMP in their operating systems. Every Mac comes with apache and mysql installed. These companies are leveraging open source, too.
So LAMP and other cool open source projects create tremendous value in the economy. Open source is fueling thousands of companies that are creating incredible value in the marketplace.
Posted by Michael at 11:15 PM | Comments (0)
January 20, 2006
Leveraging Gee-whiz
Jeffrey Zeldman has weighed in on the latest hype surrounding the so-called "Web 2.0" phenomenon. His reply? Web 3.0.
Zeldman is right to grouse. His annoying conference-goer encounter mirrors the agencies and content publishers who suddenly want to "leverage podcasting" or some other improbable combination of buzzwords. Marketing dollars are starting to flow back into the interactive space, and suddenly everyone wants to have a website that utilizes more acronyms then ever before.
Deploying a web presence that strongly depends on its implementation technology is a fallacy. You do not put the cart before the horse, or AJAX before the content. To paraphrase fellow Clockworker Nancy Lyons, you need to build the foundation of a website first—solid content, well-organized information architecture, a compelling design—not some mishmash of "Gee-whiz".
Zeldman is correct in noting that the community-driven, AJAX-enabled social software craze will continue, not unlike a gold rush. There is electronic frontier out there. However, the same problems inherent of packing all your things into a wagon and heading into the wild West are present too in this new domain. The lack of AJAX usability conventions, efficient design processes, and standard development environments invites catastrophe after catastrophe for these web development pioneers. A select few will be able to engineer their ideas properly and before their competitors deliver; most of these developers will fail.
As Zeldman says:
"To you who feel like failures because you spent last year honing your web skills and serving clients, or running a business, or perhaps publishing content, you are special and lovely, so hold that pretty head high, and never let them see the tears."
AJAX and the other buzzwords pouring out of the "Web 2.0" meme represent amazing capabilities. There are already a few sites that get it right (Flickr, anyone?). Web developers that ignore these emerging technologies will eventually be left behind. However, the existence of this new technology does not change the primary focus of the web: access to media. This content is the defining characteristic of the modern web site. Gee-whiz doesn't need to be leveraged; content does. If the technology doesn't improve the access to the content, it has no place on the web site.
Posted by Matt at 12:05 AM | Comments (0)
December 12, 2005
Web Development as acted out by toys
PingMag recently posted an article about The Web Development Process. It's pretty standard as far as process goes, but what's interesting are these cute illustrations.
[Via Matt.]
Posted by Martin at 11:39 AM | Comments (0)