The point is not a small one to Salesforce's way of thinking. The company is "absolutely" going down the path of eliminating infrastructure needs for developers.

Collins explains it this way: to develop a simple expense management application, for example, a developer needs to utilize a database, an application server, an operating system and a development environment—and all the pieces on the software and hardware side of the equation need to be brought together.

"With Apex, this is not another SQL Server," said Collins. "This is a SQL service, and an on-demand operating system. So all the components that are key pieces of infrastructure that enable custom application development, we have delivered on demand."

That means users actually leverage Oracle's database, which Salesforce's development environment sits on, and Salesforce's application server, Web server and development environment. The goal, it would seem, is to grow Salesforce beyond its CRM roots.

"They don't want to be isolated," said Saugatuck's West. "They want to be Salesforce plus ERP, with all that capability based around their architecture. They want to be the platform of the future—the Internet platform for the future. It's a grandiose vision but they have a fairly good chance of getting there."

The key for Salesforce—or any software company introducing a new platform—is to build an ecosystem that actually utilizes the language and development environment.

To the end, Salesforce also plans to announce Oct. 9 its AppEchange Incubators, centers designed to help developers who rent cube space for $20,000 a pop create ERP components on the Apex platform, which can be sold on the AppExchange marketplace.

The first center will be in Silicon Valley, in the old Siebel building. Others will follow in different locations around the world.

"We have 20,000 developers now," said Collins. "We envision millions."

Developers will have to wait just a bit before jumping on board. The Apex platform will be available as part of Salesforce.com's Winter Release; the Apex language will be available in 2007.

Some customers, like Jay Contreras, president of Crimson Worldwide, a company that uses both Salesforce.com and its AppExchange partner Intaact's software, stands behind the Apex effort.

"What they have done is allow the user and their customers to take [Salesforce] beyond the CRM perspective," said Contreras, in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Click here to read about Salesforce.com's search for acquisitions.

"They're allowing users to go in and customize, to build databases that are customized for their company."

Kory Kimball, vice president of client services at WebTrend and a Salesforce.com customer, is a bit less enthusiastic about the concept of a new development language from Salesforce.

"What is the purpose? I am a big fan of the company, but we have been successful building extensions to Salesforce applications using Java and .Net technology," said Kimball, in Portland, Ore.

"You already can develop on-demand applications. I would have to understand it better before I train my people on something new."

Saugatuck's West, however, believes Salesforce is on to something with Apex.

"If it's based on Java and it's simple, you have the appeal of all those objects on AppExchange," he said.

"Programming doesn't mean you have to start from scratch. You can leverage the work of other people. It's like the Wiki approach to development; you'll have all these different patterns—certain things to express four or five ideas—with people taking different directions to do different things."

This article was originally published on eWEEK.com.