S The Computer ’ s New

oftware organizations began introducing the client–server system architecture in the late 1980s because CSS offered a technology-driven application design that genuinely addresses corporate and user needs. Widely promoted by software and hardware vendors who sought short-term advantages in a competitive market, CSS has always been a haphazard match of disparate, ad hoc technologies that lack the guidance of a unifying vision, purpose, and theory. Software professionals seldom admit that the CSS architecture failed inevitably, or that technologies that claim to improve it are only addressing this failure. Our industry would be better served if we honestly appraised the situation, evaluated the lessons learned, and undertook a fresh start.