One way or another, the software crisis
described at the beginning of this chapter must be solved. The ever-increasing
flow of information on which our society depends is overwhelming our ability to
process it. Computing has become so fundamental to the way we live and work that
software limitations affect everyone, whether directly because of system failures
or indirectly because the high cost of software development inflates the cost of
goods and services.
Taligent technology can help all four of the industry groups mentioned at the
beginning of this chapter. It can:
- Help commercial developers extend existing markets and stimulate new ones.
- Help corporate developers develop applications more quickly.
- Help users working together in networked environments perform complex
business tasks that the current generation of applications can't handle
economically.
- Help OEMs sell innovative hardware solutions that are difficult or impossible
to deploy profitably today.
However, technology is not enough, by itself, to create the new kinds of
applications customers are demanding. With its investors, Taligent has adopted a
business and marketing strategy for launching the CommonPoint system on multiple
hosts and achieving high-volume deployment rapidly. This strategy, which is
outlined in Chapter 4, depends on the development leverage and improved user
experience that the CommonPoint system provides.