XWT: The Universal Client

Posted by timothy on Tuesday June 25, 2002 @10:23AM from the do-stuff-there dept.

adam_megacz writes "XWT is a GPLed 'universal client' -- an end run around the current state of client side OS lock-in. It lets you write applications that run on a server yet display their user interface on any client machine. Unlike VNC and X11, all UI operations are performed on the client, so it doesn't suffer from lag or freeze-ups when you lose your network connection. It also doesn't require a you to download/install/configure anything since the client is delivered as a Java Applet or ActiveX control (Linux native client also available). There are some cool demos on the site, including an email client and a widget sampler."

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The WWW is doomed! by adam_megacz · 2002-06-25 18:45 · Score: 0, Redundant

The World Wide Web is reasonably clever, but I don't get the point. Ideally, interactive applications should be local. If the app needs remote resources, it goes and gets them -- but it still keeps the interaction part local. People only run interactive apps from a server when the local system can't support the application. (Unix users who access a Windows terminal server to run Word; graphic terminals that are deployed instead of PCs in pursuit of the "thin client" fantasy.) But the World Wide Web makes you recode everything from scratch anyway -- so compatibility is out the window. It's server computing for its own sake!
Yeah, this "World Wide Web" thing will never catch on....