Download - Web based desktop
Web based desktops
Why?
Idea is to provide access to applications from anywhere from any platform
…all you need is a browser
Web vs thin client
Thin client - run lightweight client and execute complex application on server All processing is remote - performance over slow
links unpredictable Web - execute application locally and write
back data to server More predictable performance, feels local
because it is
Thin client drawbacks
Licensing expensive Need to get client software onto users
machines Need a lot of backend infrastructure
But you can run almost any application you can think of
Web drawbacks
Infrastructure requirements and scalability not clear
Applications are lightweight Feature light environment
But how many features do you really need?
AJAX
Key technology is ajax - asynchronous java application execution - ie the app doesn’t have to constantly keep writing data back but instead dumps back reasonably large buffers worth at a time.
History
Been here before: Desktop.com, dotcom boom startup
Download and install java apps locally Execute applications from web browser, save data
remotely Disappeared in the tech wreck in 2002 …
Why local download
Local download to ensure close responsiveness to keyboard ideal for word processors Reason why word processors on time sharing
systems not great (processing the letter ‘a’ problem)
Why asynchronous
Normal apps have to do a lot of writing back all the time - slows down execution and makes it difficult to do complex formatting applications Reason why htmlarea and Xinha only provide
basic texteditor capability
Email Calendar Spreadsheet Wordprocessor
Never going to kill ms office but provides basic functionality
Writely - google’s word processor
Optimised to be an editor for blog posts Native file format is html Collaboration in the box
what does it look like?
But there is an alternative
Zoho office suite More office like in functionality Fuller featured Better export Includes collaboration
So why do we care?
Might be the future way of providing student access to basic office functionality
Might mean we can ditch pc’s and macs from IC labs
Might be really significant