Oh, this strange fascination started in 2004 when they coined this new generation of ‘web development’ called Web 2.0.   I witnessed this evolution of technology from my seat in steerage at Microsoft as customers switched from the old Active Architecture (remember Windows DNA?) to the warm impermanence .NET and J2EE architectures for web applications.  Out with the old and in with the new, but the performance problems were generally the same – memory management, caching, compression, heap fragmentation, connection pooling, and so on.  It might have had a new name, but it was the same people making the same mistakes.  Back then we dismissed some of these new architecture as unproven or non-standard.  But that didn’t last long.  Now almost 5 years later with Web 2.0, any major player in the software industry that hasn’t adopted the latest web architectures is being spit on as being plainly outdated or stuck with the label of being traditional.

When it comes to testing tools and Web 2.0, I think that “traditional” does not equate to obsolete – no matter how some of the “youngsters” in the testing tool market may like to imply.  The software industry is competitive, certainly and I think new companies and software should just evangelize the positive innovations they have and then the facts can speak for themselves.  If the ‘old guys’ can’t support new Web 2.0 stuff…then it will be obvious soon enough.  For instance, if a new testing tool company doesn’t fully support AJAX clients it’s just unacceptable at this point.

However, I do believe it is fair game to evaluate existing software solutions (pre-Web 2.0) on how well they can be adapted to support newer innovations in technology.  As for LoadRunner, I think we have a long history of adapting and embracing every new technology that has come along.  I started using LoadRunner with X-Motif systems running on Solaris.  That era and generation of technology is long since died (no offense intended to Motif or Sun).  Today, the same concepts for record, replay , execution, scripting, and analysis are still innovative and very relevant.  As long as the idea for the product is still valid, you can still deliver a valid product.

Adapting to changes here in LoadRunner we usually start with overcoming the technical hurdles for creating a new virtual user, or updating an existing one.  And as I stated above, we have a long and rich history of doing this – probably more than any other testing tool.  As an example, in versions 9.0, 9.1 and 9.5 we have continued to improve our support for AJAX, Flex and Asynchronous applications.  We respond to change quite well and even if we take some extra time to evaluate every aspect of what this ‘new web’ change means to our customers.  It’s worth getting right and not being swayed by the hype of the ‘Web 2.0’ label.

Let me finish by stating that these new web technologies as challenge to testing tools, but it’s even more of a change to testers.  I’ve heard that many-a-tester gets a surprise by the next version of the AUT which secretively has implemented new Web 2.0 architecture or even started using web services calls to a SOA.  Change is a surprise only if you’re unaware or unconscious.  Sure, it would be a failure to not communicate to QA that there were some significant technology changes coming, right?  To some, this would sound too familiar.  Like an institutionalized version of “throw it over the wall” behavior, but honestly these new technologies (like AJAX) have been around for nearly 5 years now.

As for most testers, here’s a thanks to Web 2.0 – “You've left us up to our necks in it!”