For the most part, when people want to make use of information on the
Internet, they use Internet-connectivity software specifically designed to be an excellent communicator, such as a Web browser. When people want to create new information, they use business applications with computational abilities, such as a spreadsheet
or word processor. Because most connectivity programs don't have much computational ability (which I like to call "smarts"), when people use them to surf the Internet, they generally don't create new informationthey simply view existing
information stored remotely. Presently, most business applications don't have any serious Internet connectivity built in, so when new information is created using these applications, real work occurs only locally, without remote Internet access or
work-sharing between remote users.
The Internet, however, has grown enough in sophistication, reliability, and speed to support a new class of programs, one that blends the smarts of business applications and the communications abilities of Internet programs. All that's needed to take
advantage of the Internet for real computing is the software tools to make it happen, and Microsoft is creating the tool to do it: ActiveX.
This chapter suggests what sort of applications can be created by using ActiveX, hypothesizes how the Internet can be used in the near future, and looks at how the Internet is currently being used with the first ActiveX-enabled applications.
ActiveX combines two traditionally separate types of applications into one, with an emphasis on one type of application or another. For example, ActiveX can give an
Internet application, such as a Web browser, true computing power and give a business application, such as a spreadsheet, true Internet connectivityready to use existing Internet protocols to communicate with the outside world with the single click
of a mouse button.
In other words, ActiveX makes an entire range of Internet-enabled programs possible. On one side of the scale, a Web browser might perform simple computations itself, easing the burden on a traditional Web server; on the other side, a word processor
might use its built-in Internet connectivity to allow remote filesaving through FTP sites. Somewhere in the middle, a spreadsheet might have a "chat window" in it to allow two people connected through the Internet to work on the same spreadsheet
file at the same time, without a separate Internet communications program and even without dedicated Web or FTP servers. (See Figure 2.1.)
Figure 2.1. What ActiveX can accomplishdifferent classes of programs.
This example of the spreadsheet application is possibly the most exciting, since it breaks completely new ground by combining elements of traditional computing and connectivity programs, allowing people separated by vast distances to get real work done
through the Internet. With this sort of spreadsheet program, not only can the two collaborators "chat" by typing messages to each other in real-time, but they can work on the same worksheet file at the same timeas one person enters values,
the other sees them instantly and can further modify them.
With ActiveX, business applications can indeed communicate effectively over the Internet, and Internet communications programs could compute information for themselves, reducing Internet bandwidth and increasing speed.
Without getting into ActiveX specifics yet, it's important to point out that some of what's been described seems similar to what can be done by using Sun Microsystems Java programming
languagebut not all of it, and certainly not in the same way.
Java, an object-oriented language that looks and feels like C++, excels at bringing some computational power to Java-enabled Internet communications programs, mostly Web browsers for now. Although it has communications abilities, these abilities are
used with the existing communications abilities of Web browsers and aren't expected to be communicators on their own. Java can be written to perform all communications itselfand even to create entire applications from scratchbut it seems that
only Sun itself can write an entire application with Java from scratch (such as the HotJava Web browser).
ActiveX, on the other hand, is designed to be easy to use for not only adding smarts to existing communications programs such web browsers, but also for adding Internet communications ability to existing business applications and for creating entirely
new hybrid applications from scratch, using familiar methods and a range of programming languages.
For the most part, ActiveX works with a minimum amount of standards rewriting for the Internet, which is important if ActiveX is to gain popularity. In fact, it embraces a
great deal of existing technology, so even programmers and clever Web page authors who have already dived headfirst into learning Java and JavaScript find that what they know is enhanced by using ActiveX. Here's how ActiveX Technology can be combined with
existing technology to create active, innovative Web pages:
It's not quite accurate to say that ActiveX will change the Internet; instead, it will change the way people use it and think about it. After all, the Web and hypertext didn't change the Internet
eitherthey, too, merely changed the way people used it and thought about it. In fact, when you review the current state of both the Internet and the Web, you can see how ActiveX will change how you use the Internet.
This section's discussion on the Internet outlines not
necessarily the cabling and hardware that connect networks, but rather how the Internet is used by people who aren't necessarily using a Web browser.
Without Web browsers, Web pages, and index sites like Yahoo, the Internet is basically location-centric, and information is tied intimately to its location. If you want to get information about a specific topic, since there aren't any links to follow,
you would have to almost intrinsically know a gopher or FTP site, telnet IP address, or a specific newsgroup. Existing indexing programs must not only keep track of information and the sites the information is in, but also present these details on your
screen in a useful way.
However, once you do locate a site with information you're interested in, have figured out how to interact with it (since any one of several communications protocols might be used), and sorted through file-type issues by using converters and such, the
Internet is exceptionally useful. However, you must keep track of many things yourself: locations, formats, protocols, and different access programs. This was the scope of the Internet before the World Wide Web; without Web browsers, it continues to be.
If nothing else, the World Wide Web transformed the way the Internet is usedfrom being location-centric and program/protocol-centric to being information-centric. In effect (fancy graphics and special effects
notwithstanding), the Web lets users concern themselves only with finding some information about the subject they're interested in; thanks to hypertext links, they can find similar information without
worrying about locations or protocols. The Web browser acts somewhat like a common information viewer and retriever.
Once the Web browser finds existing information on the Internet, it's generally expected to just browse ithence its name. It interacts only superficially with this information, unable to truly make changes. Also, Web browsers aren't universal
file viewers. Their focus is to navigate the different protocols and networks that form the Internet and make it all look simple; therefore, not every bit of information can be viewed unless it's first converted into a
browser-friendly format.
With the introduction of ActiveX, all of the above will remain true for those Internet users and Web surfers who aren't using ActiveX functionality. Since ActiveX doesn't force the online world to bend a certain way to work,
existing web pages with "conventional" functionality can continue to function as they always have.. However, for those people using ActiveX-enabled programs and sites, three big changes are in store:
The next section, beginning with Chapter 4, "The Components of ActiveX," begins exploring the specifics of ActiveX and shows you how to start using it today. Before you can, however, you need to use an ActiveX-enabled program in the form of
Microsoft's Internet Explorer, version 3.0. The final chapter in this introductory section, "Internet Explorer 3.0: Microsoft's Gateway to the Internet's Future," shows you how to get and install version 3.0 of the Internet Explorer and
highlights some of its newer features.