Dan Bricklin, inventor of VisiCalc and president of Software Garden, spoke recently at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California. He emphasized the need for custom software development in the present economic climate, in which customers demand applications that solve highly specific business problems. Such companies as traditional ISVs and VARs appear to agree, and have recently started changing their business models to provide custom application development services while continuing to resell or integrate packaged applications. The development of service-oriented architecture (SOA) architectures that use open source and Web services, in addition to SOAs themselves, will make IT systems more flexible. Companies on the bandwagon are IBM, Microsoft, and BEA Systems, and vendors are also reworking their channel programs to encourage development of custom solutions by partners, particularly for customers in vertical markets. Eclipse, which is a portal for developers, allows mass customization for developers of multiple tools for integration into a single experience. IBM has also streamlined its partner network to more effectively serve the business requirements of customers through such initiatives as Industry Partner Nets. Microsofts sales representatives also are more attentive to partners that have expertise in providing applications for specific vertical markets. BEA Project Beehive is an open source framework that supports development of composite applications through open source WebLogic Workshop Java development tools.