The world of internet not only provides an infinite source for information but also offers ideas to the kinky-minded criminals. For example, the concept of proxy servers has been well-utilised by a group of people in Delhi to form a network of people to commit various nefarious activities by simulating the functioning of the proxy server through human activities.

The existence of such a network has been acknowledged by the Delhi Police. But, where the Delhi administration nor the Police has acted yet by way of any arrests on this dastardly network, the same is not the case with the actual proxy server, which immediately supplies an error report of its status on any event of an irregularity. It will be an interesting exercise to sketch out how the proxy server’s capabilities influenced a formation of an inhuman network but that, as they say, is another story for some other time.

A proxy server is a computer program that acts as an intermediary between a web browser and a web server. To give users rapid access to popular web destinations, Internet Service Providers use proxy servers as "holding bins" to store frequently requested pages, rather than going out and fetching them repeatedly from the Net. They are associated with a "gateway," which separates the internal network from the outside; a "firewall," which screens all incoming traffic and protects the network from unwelcome intruders; and a "caching" program, which looks locally for previously downloaded web pages. If the requested page is not found, the proxy server goes out to the Net and retrieves it, almost invisibly, for the user. Apparently, this is a safe, efficient way of handling inbound and outbound traffic on a network (Source: whatis.com). But, Microsoft had discontinued its Proxy Server 2.0 on March 31, 2001, for a more sophisticated, superior and faster server called the ISA server.

Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server is the successor to Proxy Server 2.0. ISA Server goes far beyond a proxy server by providing an enterprise firewall and a high-performance Web cache server to meet the requirements of the most demanding Internet environments. The optimized caching technology and multiprocessor support in ISA Server provide the high-speed performance that enables you to save on bandwidth and make the most of your Internet access. In benchmark testing, the 2,083 requests per second filled by ISA Server eclipsed the 180 requests per second of Proxy Server 2.0 by more than a factor of 10 (Source: www.Microsoft.com/isaserver).

With the platform of perception changing about web servers, another entry imposes itself on the world attention because of the people who are recommending it - the Java Web Server called Jigsaw, being worked out by the W3C people (who recommended XML). Already in its 2nd version, the Jigsaw server, is W3C's leading-edge Web server platform, providing a sample HTTP 1.1 implementation and a variety of other features on top of an advanced architecture implemented in Java. HTTP 1.1 is W3C's answer to the clear text, data communication of the previous version of HTTP, which puts data-security to the risk of being hacked.

W3C.com (World wide Consortium) came into being in October, 1994, with the efforts of Tim-Berners-Lee - inventor of the web - at the MIT. The mission of W3C is to promote interoperability and encourage an open forum for discussion. W3C is committed to leading the technical evolution of the Web. In just over seven years, W3C has developed more than 35 technical specifications for the Web's infrastructure. One among the latest is Web Services.

Web Services are likely and are storming the market day-by-day. A web Service can be understood as all those components that offer a programmatic interface between two applications over the web.

Of course, it needs to be noted here that Microsoft has been in the forefront in offering similar services for its Windows users. It has even offered a web service in the form of the Passport (already!), which I believe offers user identification and authentication. ActiveX started it all and I don't know whether Microsoft's contribution to the world, in this regard, should be substantiated or not but, it is always safe to be for the software giant as its products and vision are not only superior but also, often, make life easy for other products to evolve although, none acknowledge such facts. Where, if Microsoft had developed a product on an idea implemented by a third-party, the mongrels would have gone hammer and tongs at it and dragged it to the federal courts for plagiarism and similar stuff, while the Windows services offered by way of the many DLLs, in Windows OSs, have been doing the same as what the Web Services is likely to do for web developers - allow complex operations through existing or pre-defined services.

Still on Web Service, with the web undergoing a big change (not thanks to W3C) because of the IT and the .Com slump, will web development really demand so much that a RAD web tool like the Web Services be required?  This is not a pessimistic opinion, but, rather, a real query on the real state of web development and web-based business. With less of development, the timeframe for development will go down, with effect that a similar situation to what happened when RAD tools like VC++, VB were available but the demand grew so less that most of the programmers migrated to the web and Java. Will the same happen when Web Services is recommended in full by the W3C and there will be no takers because web development may have just gone shy ?

Incidentally, W3C, pronounced by a lisping child, sounds "WTC" !! Regardless and nevertheless, two or three kudos to this wonderful organisation with the most W's in its site, for its wonderful efforts.