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Farewell to the thin client
Traditional browsers now include so much new technology that their mission has changed. The question is: Changed to what?
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What was once a browser is no longer thin
In providing a richly functional universal client, besides the challenge posed by variations in client-device hardware, the other major challenge is the client's tendency to put on weight. Network computers promise applications will reside on a server and only be downloaded to the client as required. However, the client will still have to be able to render the information that is passed to it.One of the major selling points of browsers has been the economic advantage of using a thin-client architecture to replace the fat-client environment of personal computers and servers. The economic advantage is maintained, however, even when the clients gain weight. Ubiquity has its own cost advantages, and over time they will dominate any short-term hardware costs.
About the author
William Blundon is executive vice president and co-founder of The Extraprise Group (http://www.extraprise.com), a leading provider of application development, training, and strategic advisory services for corporations building Internet, intranet, and extranet sites. His focus in the last eight years has been on distributed object environments and the Internet. He is a former director of the Object Management Group.Conclusion
The browser is dead, but a universal client is in everyone's future. Netscape's Communicator is an early indication of what the universal client will become. However, as computers, televisions, and other networked devices are increasingly integrated, the demands on software will increase at roughly the same rate as the quality of the user interaction.- Feedback
Resources
- Netscape has an excellent whitepaper ("The Networked Enterprise") that describes its vision of what computing will look like
for corporations over the next few years. It warrants a careful reading:
http://www.netscape.com/focus3/comprod/at_work/white_paper/vision/print.html
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