1970 - 1980 : terminal server
presentations on the wire
1990 - 2000 : database everywhere
data on the wire
1990 - 2000 : internet rising
presentations on the wire
2012 - Now : Meteor DDP
data on the wire
For fetching data from the server
And receiving live updates when data change
Like REST for websockets
It's only JSON
( you can keep your REST as a side data source )
only a couple pages specifications to implement it