Geospatial “Client/Server” Losing in Language Battle

I read a press release posted to our website (you can post your geospatial press release directly here for free) titled: “Touch Screen BlackBerry Storm Now Runs ArcGIS Server.” Really, I thought? You can run ArcGIS Server on the Storm? That’s misleading! You run the software client on the Storm! The release uses the term “client” just once; the term “application” might have been used.

But then I realized, for one reason or another we’ve dropped that sort of language in the past few years. At one point we talked endlessly about 2-tier and 3-tier architecture (that latter included “middleware” another term that’s not spoken or typed as much). Today we “run” Google Maps and Google Earth and MapServer and WorldWind and Virtual Earth and rarely distinguish between server and client. If I had to identify where that change started, I’d guess with Google Earth; it was the first widely used “download and install” geo client. I suppose this change in language is another step toward cloud computing/SAAS.