Re: Java servlet on browsers: dying or kicking ?

I spend much of my working life translating a clients business processes
into something that can run on a computer and the trend is now more than
ever away from a strictly web based process and towards systems that are
completely independent of delivery mechanism.

So, where as a few years ago we had 'we gotta have a web site because
our competitors have a web site' now we have 'we need a system that can
implement our business and deliver our business value over multiple
communication channels'

So as well as a web site we often provide one or more of, a mobile
interface, a social media interface delivering targeted updates to the
likes of twitter, farcebook etc. an XML RSS feed, an interactive XML
based catalogue and recently a way of delivering business value via web
TV. We also provide interfaces to existing legacy systems and machine
interfaces to allow JIT supplier order fullfilment, shop floor intranet
access via hand held devices, POS systems etc etc. Only last week I was
asked about a 'Virtual Worlds' interface, Second Life and suchlike. I
had a second life account for a while but got so absorbed that I started
to neglect my earthly one :-(

I try to design our systems to be completely isolated from both
persistence mechanism and delivery mechanism

What I inevitably end up with is a slightly less that perfect decoupling
but I like to think that eventually, given the appearance of a truly
scalable way to persist entire Object trees I will be able to produce a
business system that will be completely decoupled from earthly
considerations like UI and database