INFORMATION SYSTEMS SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT TODAY - COMPONENTS, SOA ETC.

Historically, the application software offered by software houses (usually same ones producing hardware and operating systems) covered some "traditional" tasks like accounting, payroll, personnel etc. For those who demanded any specific software features, the only way how to reach that was the in-house development. When the software production has overcome the borders of hardware producers and completely specific software houses have appeared, the integrated application software packages called ERP have started to be marketed. Although the ERP solutions became very exhaustive and complex, they were unable to cover all specific requirements of various user organisations. Some specific software functions or traditional ones within the specific circumstances were not satisfactorily covered by the universal packages. Later on, the conception of the Component-Based Software Engineering has occurred. Basic idea of that is to build up the software systems by assembling components already developed and prepared for integration. Today, a quite new conception of Service Oriented Architecture is heavily under discussion and, even, the developmental effort of leading software houses. Virtually one could think both approaches are basically same, however, the situation reflecting the attitudes of major providers is dramatically changing.