The most interesting part of the JackBe toolkit is on the horizon. The company is putting the finishing touches on Presto, a server-based back end for the tool that will knit together a wide range of Web services and translate the data into a simpler form that can be sent to the client. This adds another layer to the software stack in the hopes of reducing Web traffic and simplifying security.

JackBe points out, for instance, that it is substantially easier to consume Web services behind your firewall than it is to release their XML packets directly to the client. Legacy Web services floating around an IT shop may not have all of the security necessary for opening them to the public. It’s easier to let Presto make decisions about each client and then send the request off in its name than to get some uncooperative division to retool their Web service.

Presto also rewrites the XML from the Web services into the generally shorter and easier-to-parse JavaScript or JSON (JavaScript Object Notation). Some suggest that browsers can parse this data dramatically faster than they can parse XML, something that probably varies significantly based on your application.

This change also allows JackBe to enhance the connection. Clients that use Web services must initialize the XMLHttpRequest operation, something that’s generally acceptable unless you want the server to tell something to the browser. For example, a browser-based e-mail system, such as Google’s Gmail, won’t notice a new letter until it initiates a check or you push the refresh button.

JackBe’s Presto architecture can offer “pure push” by keeping the connection up as long as it’s needed. This allows you to build more interactive tools when you need to constantly keep data moving to the user. If you want to build a news ticker or chat into your application, this feature is a big architectural advantage.

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Tibco General Interface 3.2

Tibco’s decision to purchase General Interface in 2004 put the stamp of corporate IT acceptance on JavaScript. Since then, Tibco has put much of its marketing muscle behind the product, and it continues to innovate. The current version, 3.2, fixes a number of important limitations of 3.1 and completes a change to open source. (See my previous review.)

Version 3.2 looks similar to 3.0 and 3.1, giving you a browser-based IDE that looks and feels like the IDE classics. You can develop your interface by dragging and dropping objects around the page, something that still seems amazing in the world of HTML. While I found much of the IDE to be functional and useful, I grew a bit tired of the handholding. After a few minutes, I wanted to go back to pure XML or HTML or JavaScript mark up of the application. The Tibco interface, while quite slick, seemed to have too many options and I found myself searching for easy ways to rewrite the names of menu items or buttons. A traditional development editor lets you abstract away complexity by hiding it in some file or object, out of sight and out of mind. I felt like there were too many options in front of me. This is, however, just a matter of taste because there are many developers who like this approach.

The source code for 3.2 is being rolled out in phases and protected by a BSD license. The earlier 3.1 had a more limited license that charged for closed sites, but 3.2 removes this limitation. Tibco will pay for more development with support contracts that include a warranty. Eventually, the company hopes to integrate community contributions into the mix, something that will give them the opportunity to add in code from other major (or minor) open source contributors.

This is an interesting play and one that signals how Tibco (and Bindows) differ from Backbase and JackBe. Tibco already emphasizes how its product’s independence from server code makes it easier to integrate with other widgets and non-Tibco offerings. Making the whole product open source allows Tibco to blend in the contributions of the others without legal headaches or the need to define things such as a plug-in architecture. If they see a neat widget with the right license, they can add it.