It's interesting to watch certain technologies evolve from experimentation, to pilot projects carried out by a few pioneering companies, and gradually into mainstream status. We've seen this occur, over the years, with relational database technology, structured methods, CASE technology, and object-oriented technology. Now it appears that distributed, component-based technology is about to achieve mainstream status. We covered the topic in late 1997, and it seems even more solid as we reexamine it this year.