As I’m sure many of you heard, Geocities is no more. That means there are no more web servers on the Internet. That’s right, you heard me. There are no more web servers left on the Internet.
But Tony, what about this site? Aren’t I reading a page on your site being served from a web server?
It’s not actually a web server. It’s a web server/application server/database server. This blog is a web application, and web applications require the three tiers: Web, App, and DB. This particular system is running the popular LAMP stack, for Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP. The application this server runs (among others) is the popular WordPress blog.
So, no, it’s not a web server. Not just a web server anyway. You get the point.
When’s the last time you went to a static web page? Years ago, your average person would need to know some HTML in order to post pictures of their cats. Now, a web application handles the presentation, all you need to do is supply the cat pictures (and adorable captions).
Everything is a web application. Nothing is static anymore. That’s part of the reason load balancers are being called “Application Delivery Controllers”.
Nothing usable on the Interet today is useful unless it’s a web application. Blogs, news sites (powered by content management system), social media, web stores. They’re all web applications. So no more web servers. Not by themselves, anyway.
“Everything is a web application. Nothing is static anymore. That’s part of the reason load balancers are being called “Application Delivery Controllersâ€.”
This is probably the most succinct and accurate description of the reason behind the change in terminology I’ve ever read.
Bravo, Tony. Great post!
Lori