Ron,
> While TS might not be perfect, putting an app out on a network drive is
> also pretty easy. Next time you come in to work, there's your new
> version.
> Heck, I use a VPN every day as a telecommuter.
Sure. I was just pointing out that the logistics of getting 150 home users to
install and configure compatible VPN clients on their home PCs is
significantly greater that installing browsers, especially as many users will
already have compatible browsers.
> There's gonna be idiot users everywhere, no matter how simple you make
> it...
Actually, I wasn't pointing out the idiocy of the user, but the variety of
platforms and hardare an IT department has to support once the app is
extended to home users.
In VPNs favor, it can be made much more secure than SSL can ever be.
> Maybe it's just me, but I'm not a big fan of pumping everything
> through port 80. (This is where Web Services really scares me.)
Beyond the script kiddie issue, what's to worry about?
> It's here alright, but "thin client" doesn't *equate* to web-based
> interaction.
>
> Thank goodness for LAPP (linux, apache, postgresql, php) but it's
> not the solution to every on-line system.
You're absolutely right. My point is merely that unless "advantages 1&2" are
very important to your application, "LAPP" is probably the cheapest, fastest
(to develop) and more reliable application architectures currently available.
I've certainly developed applications where 1&2's importance was overwhelming
... for example, a financial reporting application we wrote 2 years ago in
VB6. The app had to fit a lot of data on a small screen, and had to print
highly formatted reports running to hundreds of pages. This is not something
to which web apps are suited.
And there certainly are non-web-based thin client architectures -- I support
one of my clients on Citrix, for example. My experience, however, has been
that terminal-services based solutions for applications (so, not LTSP) tend
to be high-maintainence and expensive (WTS is $150/user, last I checked).
--
Josh Berkus
Aglio Database Solutions
San Francisco
