A little history

Esri has a long history of providing powerful capabilities to its users for server, desktop, and mobile platforms. It really started back in the 1980s with ArcInfo and with a language called Arc Macro Language (AML). This language allowed users to create scripts that automated tasks and provided developers with the ability to create interfaces on both Windows and UNIX. Then, PCs became more powerful and Esri continued providing great developer opportunities with AML and new programs that ran on Windows called ArcView and MapObjects. Avenue was the first attempt of Esri at an object-oriented programming language. It was very popular because it provided its user base with their first exposure to this new paradigm of writing code. Of course, by the late 1990s, everything started to change with languages such as Visual Basic and Visual Basic for Applications (VBA). Not only that, languages such as Java became very popular, which led to .NET. As Esri saw these major developments, with more high-level languages that were easier for its user base, it became more and more obvious that developing a custom language for their user base no longer made sense. By the late 1990s, Esri started building ArcGIS, which was going to allow users to use their language of choice (C++, .NET, Java, VB, and VBA). Users could then develop a tool or extension for the flagship product of Esri (ArcGIS). Esri also decided to provide users with even more customization options with a very powerful product called ArcGIS Engine, which gave developers the full capability to customize every aspect of their flagship product. Since around the year 2000 and up until about 2014, ArcGIS Desktop and ArcGIS Engine were the main systems that most developers used to customize Esri's technology. The API was called ArcObjects and it was written in C++ and Microsoft's Component Object Model (COM). All these technologies evolved as the computer industry evolved and Esri, to its credit, kept pace despite the complexity and size of their GIS.

When it comes to web apps, Esri saw its first opportunity to leverage MapObjects, which was for Visual Basic, to allow users to take their work and push it to the web. As a result, they created MapObjects Internet Map Server (MOIMS). I actually had a great opportunity to create the first local government MOIMS app for Cabarrus County, NC back in the late 1990s. Back then, web mapping was pretty bare bones, but it worked! From there, ArcIMS came along, and then ArcGIS for Server was introduced. To aid web developers, Esri built their JavaScript API, which really brought about an incredible explosion of web apps over the past several years. All of this eventually led users to need a common platform to present their web content and apps in a portal. Eventually, ArcGIS Online (AGOL) and the on-premise version of AGOL, called Portal for ArcGIS, came about, which allowed users to create maps and apps very quickly. More importantly, this brought GIS to the masses.

Another important development over the past few years with Esri was the development of mobile solutions such as ArcPad and ArcGIS for Windows Mobile. Despite the success of these products, it is clear that ArcGIS Runtime is the future of mobile apps for the technology stack of Esri because of the rise of so many platforms, such as Android, Apple, and Microsoft-supported devices. As such, Esri is developing several client-side apps with ArcGIS Runtime for end users, such as Operations Dashboard for ArcGIS, Collector for ArcGIS, Navigator for ArcGIS, and ArcGIS Earth.