Re: Native GUI (was Saving the System i: Fight Rather Than Switch)

On 12/11/06, Jones, John (US) <John.Jones@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

ClickOnce doesn't deploy to clients unless the clients all run off a
network share.  Not reasonable for small branch offices or remote
workers.  It does seem like it could be useful if you're running IIS as
your web server infrastructure.  For workstations something like SUS
would be the more appropriate tool but it doesn't work across
non-WAN-attached devices.

A potential disadvantage I see is supporting such a beast.  If every
client's interface is done to their perspective as you say, then every
client has a potentially different look and feel.  I don't think this is
a help-desk friendly situation.  Granted, I haven't read the site in
detail so I could be wrong on this point.

I dont know enough about it.  In theory I am just thinking it would be
workable for every desktop client to check on startup for updates from
the server. I admit many have tried this ( myself included ) and still
had problems.

Another is my ongoing point about remote/mobile deployments; No company
that has any concern about security is going to open ODBC to the 'net.

web services are the up and coming way to write network apps.  a web
service is the same in basic ways to an sql stored procedure that is
called via ODBC.

I'm also not about to buy a VPN concentrator that can support the
necessary number of concurrent connections.  That would be prohibitively
expensive compared to a couple hundred bucks for a 3rd party SSL
certificate & a few host CPU cycles to handle the encryption (or even
compared to buying the crypto accelerator).

And this approach is still not cross-platform.  If you're going to let
partners or customers access your apps, you have to be able to deliver
to every platform your partners use.  As often as Windows is that
platform, it can't be considered a guarantee.

desktop apps that access the server via web services. that is the
future, no? Let the end user clients worry about coding and deploying
their apps to their desktops. The server dept focuses on the corporate
applications and web services that provide access to those apps.  All
that is needed for the i5 to compete in this environment is super fast
p5 hardware at market p5 prices.

-Steve