The computing landscape around us is changing dramatically - from stand-alone
servers to server clusters, from fat clients to thin clients, and from applets
to plug-ins. Much of the change is driven by the relentless growth in computer processing power and communications bandwidth, due to advances in the
semiconductor industry. However, some of the change is also due to new,
effective software technologies. The result is the way in which we design,
implement, package, distribute, use, and maintain computer systems - both
hardware and software - is quite different from what was done just some few
years ago. This talk addresses some of substantive technical problems that face us as WEB technology becomes increasingly and widely adapted for applications
ranging from mission critical systems to edutainment. A number of `core
technologies' are identified and several systems related conjectures are offeredboth those in universities and in industry.