Remember the early 2000s? Software meant fat clients—big, bulky apps running entirely on your desktop. Windows Forms, VBA, VB.NET, C#: they ruled the era. The UI directly spoke to databases; complexity lived on every workstation.
Then the software slimmed down. Client-server models took hold, shifting logic onto central servers. UIs got lighter, maintenance easier, but complexity didn't vanish—it just moved. We began separating concerns into layers: data storage, application logic, UI. The user interface itself got thinner, moving toward browsers and web forms.
Adobe Flash and Silverlight briefly promised rich, interactive UIs on the web. It felt like desktop apps in browsers—but security issues and performance woes doomed both technologies. Soon after, the cloud arrived, and everything changed again.
The cloud moved apps off physical servers, abstracting infrastructure away. HTML5 took Flash’s place, creating responsive web apps without plugins. Software now lived everywhere and nowhere.
Today, AI agents bring another radical shift: we're becoming headless. No more rigid, pre-coded interfaces—just dynamic interactions driven by data and intelligent agents. UIs aren't built ahead of time; they're generated on-demand, adapting to user intent. Software no longer equals just code plus markup. Now, it's data plus AI agents.
With headless applications driven by AI, your next UI might just be Slack, Teams, WhatsApp, or any messaging platform you already use. Instead of learning new interfaces or navigating complex menus, you simply talk to software like you talk to a colleague:
This agentic UX is powerful because it’s immediately familiar. You don't learn software paradigms anymore; instead, you simply ask in natural language.
It opens software to a broader audience, engaging users who previously felt software was too technical or complex. You’re no longer interacting with software—you’re collaborating with it.
Research from the Nielsen Norman Group shows users rarely read web pages word-by-word—they scan in an F-shaped pattern:
You're likely following this very pattern now—skimming headers, jumping between bullet points, hunting for keywords. Headless, AI-driven apps match this perfectly. No bloated interfaces, just concise responses tailored exactly to your questions.
Applications today don't have fixed UIs; they dynamically emerge from data through AI. It's the simplest, most natural software we've ever built: no UI until you ask for it — just data, intelligently delivered.
The cycle continues. From fat clients to web apps to the cloud to AI agents — we keep stripping away the layers. What’s left isn’t less powerful. It’s just less visible. The UI disappears, but the experience improves. Applications are no longer places you go to — they come to you.
Learn how Epicor is changing the game with AI.
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