Those of us building modern applications in HTML5 and JavaScript face a new set of challenges, distinct from those of the previous era of server-centric web applications.

How, for example, do we transition the web from a "dumb terminal" model that is based on serving HTML, to a client/server model that is based on exchanging data? How do we design software to run in a radically distributed environment, where even everyday database apps are spread over multiple data centers and hundreds of intelligent client devices, and must integrate with other software at dozens of other organizations? How do we prepare for a world where most web APIs will be push-based (realtime), rather than polling-driven? And in the face of escalating complexity, how can we simplify software engineering so that more people can do it?

Meteor is a distribution of modular, open-source packages that solve these problems in a principled and off-the-shelf way. This talk will highlight some of those components and show how they work together to dramatically shorten the development cycle, whether you're a team of expert developers or just getting started.