- Background
- Case Study: Interior Specialists Management System
- Remote Services
- Benefits of Deployment Under Remote Services
- Issues of Application Deployment using Remote Services
- Application Design Considerations
- Application Development Under Remote Services
- Conclusions and Recommendations
- Further Reading
Benefits of Deployment Under Remote Services
By leveraging the capabilities of remote services listed above, software developers gain the following benefits that allow them to provide greater functionality at a lower total cost:
No compromises. Because the application is written as a stand-alone application, no compromises need to be made to the functionality offered to the user in order to work within the constraints of the browser.
Cleaner interface. The user is not forced to deal with the additional complexity and confusion of negotiating mixed browser and application interfaces.
Simpler client configuration. The remote services client has far fewer configuration options than a browser, and therefore has fewer potential client configuration issues to test and troubleshoot. There are likewise fewer client versioning and system-dependency issues than when using a browser.
Externally supported client-side code. Because remote services are responsible for client-side maintenance, this eliminates the need for application developers to worry about client configuration issues and OS support. They do not need to write code specifically to work under remote services in the same way they need to write code specifically for a browser.
Simple installation and maintenance. Because the application(s) are installed only on the server, installation issues on various client configurations are eliminated. The application is insulated from client configuration issues.
Client independence. The remote services client is extremely lightweight. Because it does not interpret commands like browsers do, its operation is extremely narrow and optimized, so it will perform welleven on less-powerful clients. Because the application executes completely on the server, application performance is largely independent of client capability. There is far less processing required on the client-side, even as compared to Active Server Page applications.
Application language independence. You can develop your application using any language, architecture, and tools desired. This is not true for Microsoft.NET or HTML applications. Remote services allow developers to utilize tried-and-true mature products such as Visual Basic 6, while still benefiting from the latest remote access capabilities. Intriguingly, remote services make it feasible to develop and deploy Microsoft.NET stand-alone applications today, even though client operating systems do not yet have the Microsoft.NET runtimes.
Local or remote execution. You can build a single application and deploy it locally or execute it remotely at any time. You can take existing applications and deploy them under remote services without rewriting them for the browser. Potentially, this can completely eliminate the need for a costly rewrite.
Longer application lifetime. By insulating the application from accessibility technologies, it can enjoy a longer product lifetime and therefore a higher return on investment. Browser-based applications are much more likely to be forced into retirement as that technology progresses. When browsers increase their functionality, it is more likely that those applications will have to be rewritten to stay compatible or utilize those improvements. If they stay relatively stagnant, the applications are equally likely to be forced into retirement as they become technologically outdated. Either way, stand-alone applications deployed under remote services have a far better long-term prognosis.