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I lived through both of these deployment methods and experienced the process from both sides. Believe me, if you don't believe it already, both models are tedious and prone to errors -- even for small deployments!
The situation seemed to improve somewhat with the introduction of the Web browser. Browser-based applications present no new deployment model. In essence, we return to centralized computing. Instead of the hardware-oriented dumb terminal, we use the browser-based thin client. From the point of view of deployment, the two are the same: server-side computing at its finest. Because of the browser's ubiquity and general adherence to standards, Web-based applications are easy to deploy -- users simply load up one application UI in their browser window. This uncomplicated deployment explains the sometimes perplexing and single-minded devotion many IT managers have for browser-based solutions.
Unfortunately, purely browser-based applications are limited in a number of ways, primarily because a browser is a document-oriented tool with a poor user-interface toolkit. I don't want to write off the browser completely, but the most successful browser-based applications that I see all remain true to the browser's origins as a document presentation tool.
So where does Java fit in?
Java reverses the server-centered trend that purely browser-based solutions introduced. Java allows us to build full-fledged, fully functional applications on the client. From a functional standpoint, this is a positive improvement. From a deployment standpoint, on the other hand, Java falls short. But deployment is still not as tedious as it once was, because Java provides the applet method.
In the applet method, we take advantage of the ubiquity of the browser and its support for Java to provide both a distribution method and an application platform. As a result, we get the benefits of the browser and the power of a real client platform, right? Well, kind of.
Applet-based solutions also feature their fair share of issues and problems. Security considerations, download times, browser incompatibilities, and the general mismatch between the browser's document-oriented model and the user-interface requirements of many applications all limit the applet's utility as a one-size-fits-all deployment method.
For some of you, this statement may be old news, but the streets today crowd with developers and managers whose exposure to Java is only beginning. Many books, articles, and training courses still fail to really address the darker side of applet-based development. Ultimately, many overlook the question of whether the browser -- a tool designed for viewing hypertext documents -- is the right tool to deploy an application. In many cases, were the question ever asked, the answer would be "No."
Luckily, it turns out, even more alternatives exist.
In my next column, we'll begin to design and build one such alternative. In order to guide its development, and (perhaps more importantly) to help you select a commercial deployment solution should you need to use one, I've put together the following list of requirements that a deployment solution should satisfy.