Rich Client

Typically you hear client software as being either Thin Client (browser, WebApp) or Fat Client.

I'll define the range between those 2 points as "rich client".

Argh, the below is very sloppy.

Let's try to draw cleaner lines between these types of apps.

• Thin Client: pure Open Standards browser WebApp. Not download, no special runtime. HTML, D[[HTML]], JavaScript

• Rich Client: two levels

  • Thin Client with AJAX and persistence? Does a really easy plugin install count as an install?

  • one-time install of Run-Time Virtual Machine that runs within browser. Individual apps are automatically streamed when a URI is called. Java, Flash

• Fat Client: individual apps must be downloaded. VisualBasic, Python

Even these lines are fuzzy. Especially in the Microsoft architecture, you can easily imagine a web page triggering the download/install/launch of a VisualBasic app which runs in a separate window/memory, etc. The trick is getting your foot in the door - hence my Bundle Many Runtimes ideal.

Some possible features/benefits/parameters:

• better GUI (e.g. form widgets) than straight HTML

• offline use

• better performance (lower lantency) for certain tasks because functional code runs on the local client on a local cache of data.

• using a P2P architecture to avoid scaling and reliability issues associated with central servers (or TupleSpace?)

Some possible technologies (which don't necessarily provide all the above features) include:

• Java applets, JavaScript

• Flash

• XUL (Mozilla only)

• D[[HTML]] (still not quite standardized due to ancient MsIE bugs)

• Desktop Web Server (e.g. Radio Userland, Zope, or Jon Udell's "dhttp" Perl work)

• Groove

• REBOL (IOS)

• PythonCard

• UseNet thread about various Python GUI libraries.

A big issue with rich clients is getting user acceptance.

• how much work is involved in setting up the framework and custom application?

• what is the financial cost of the runtime and custom app?

mozilla is a piece of shit. give it up netscape!

• the key response is "for what? compared to what?" Because it drives me nuts in a variety of ways, but I'm still using it for almost everything... --Bill

Another technology: ULC - Rich clients for J2EE http://www.canoo.com/ulc