Framework · 2003–now · Web Boom
Spring
Java's practical operating system for apps. DI and Boot made enterprise Java shippable again.
Spring stuck by absorbing every J2EE mistake into optional modules and sane defaults. Boot turned deployable JARs into a one-liner onboarding path. It wins because enterprise Java hiring still means Spring on the resume.
Case studies
Patterns

Context
The browser ate the desktop
The web became the default delivery surface. LAMP and Rails made shipping cheap; Ajax made pages feel like apps; SOAP/SOA tried to enterprise-ify the wire. REST won by being debuggable with curl. This decade invented the modern product cadence — and the habit of treating every new framework as destiny.
Compare with
Related
Language · 1995–now
Java
Write once, run everywhere — then enterprise forever. Still the backbone of serious backend estates.
Framework · 1999–now
J2EE / EE frameworks
EJB-heavy stacks taught a generation that XML config was architecture. Spring and lighter runtimes absorbed the survivors.
Language · 2011–now
Kotlin
Java without the boilerplate ceremony. Google's Android pick and Spring's polite nod kept it climbing.