13.2 Risk Analysis
Our exploration of the feasibility of the applet ensemble initiates an R3 discovery cycle (Risk analysis, Realize model problem, Repair). At this point so little was known that almost everything presented risk. Would the applet take too long to download? Would it introduce security risks? Could a solution be implemented that worked on both Microsoft and Netscape browsers? How would images be transferred from the image store to the applet? In the aggregate, these unknowns presented an unacceptable level of risk. It would have been impractical to attempt to answer all of the above questions at once. Besides, there were many more questions, as well. Instead, we posed the following design question: Does there exist an applet ensemble that works with Netscape and Microsoft browsers, and that allows users to connect to DIRS and to download an image into 3rd-party image viewing component?
This question is interesting for the issues it does not address—security and performance. In fact, it only asks for a demonstration of the most basic form of feasibility: an existence proof that a collection of components can, in fact, be integrated to achieve a modest objective. With the above question in mind, we moved on to realize a model problem (the second R in R3).