The visual component market developed quickly because de facto standards existed. Component developers knew that their components would work, for example, with Visual Basic if they developed a VBX component. These days, developers know that ActiveX components of a particular flavor can work with everything from PowerBuilder to a Web development tool. On the other hand, there are immense barriers to the development of a third-party business object market. Budding business object developers are faced with a market devoid of business object standards.
Some people like to build business objects that get loaded and saved.
Others like to use put and get methods. The point is that you don't want a business object framework where sometimes you use the save method and other times you use the put method. As a result, all you can buy right now are complete business object frameworks that cost tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars. This means that most of us will be focused on using business objects developed within our organizations. Look for this to change over the next couple of years, as innovative people look for ways to build a business object market as open and as innovative as today's visual control market.