This document discusses microservices and compares them to monolithic applications. It defines microservices as small, autonomous services that work together using lightweight mechanisms like HTTP APIs. Developing applications using microservices allows for faster release cycles, improved scalability, and easier adoption of new technologies compared to a monolithic approach. The document outlines some challenges of microservices like service discovery, configuration management, and debugging. It then provides examples of how to address these challenges using Spring Boot, Spring Cloud, Netflix OSS tools, and concepts like API gateways and fault tolerance.