Good point well made, but the problem we faced was a huge range of platforms both in terms of OS and hardware spec. We're talking Mac, Unix, Windows 98,NT,2K,XP. Some sites running citrix clients, some connected to the network via VPN. As we had a development team of 2 people, we went with web applications.
However, I do agree to a certain extent with your point but I think that in some circumstances, the current technology available makes web applications a viable solution. HTML, AJAX and everything else, has evolved to where it is because things that work stuck and things that didn't got left behind. Anything new will have to go through that same 'survival of the fittest' trial and unless it had significant benefits, I think most people would stick to the tireless job of evolving what they already know to fit their requirements.
Web applications are an ideal solution for largescale rollouts and software management within an organisation.
The company that I used to work for regularly chose to build web applications as the user base was over 8000 people spread over 65 sites across Europe. The only requirements for running a web app was a compatible web-browser and a connection to the intranet. Any other type of deployment would require the tech support staff in every site to install the application on every PC, everytime there was an update.
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Good point well made, but the problem we faced was a huge range of platforms both in terms of OS and hardware spec. We're talking Mac, Unix, Windows 98,NT,2K,XP. Some sites running citrix clients, some connected to the network via VPN. As we had a development team of 2 people, we went with web applications.
However, I do agree to a certain extent with your point but I think that in some circumstances, the current technology available makes web applications a viable solution. HTML, AJAX and everything else, has evolved to where it is because things that work stuck and things that didn't got left behind. Anything new will have to go through that same 'survival of the fittest' trial and unless it had significant benefits, I think most people would stick to the tireless job of evolving what they already know to fit their requirements.
Web applications are an ideal solution for largescale rollouts and software management within an organisation. The company that I used to work for regularly chose to build web applications as the user base was over 8000 people spread over 65 sites across Europe. The only requirements for running a web app was a compatible web-browser and a connection to the intranet. Any other type of deployment would require the tech support staff in every site to install the application on every PC, everytime there was an update.