Catching Up On the Server Side
Ops Versus Apps?
Fat and Rich—Furthering the Lead
The Microsoft Mobility Mission
Forms, Clients, and Developer Kudos
End-User Productivity Really Does Matter
James Governor
September 24, 2002
The problem of the feature-starved thin client not insurmountable but it is very real. Users must balance their end-users' functional requirements against the requirements of IT operations, calling for thinner, more manageable clients requiring less ongoing administration.
Microsoft client and development strategies are designed to underpin choices about where and when to replicate data, how fat the client is, and why. This is a real showstopper for thin clients—what do you do when the employee is out on the road and can't find a network access point?
When an access point is available, how do you ensure reasonable performance regardless of access method? Microsoft Outlook and Exchange, for example, raise their own issues because the mechanisms used to tie Outlook to the server are so chatty. Yet no business traveler would willingly give up that rich client and ability to replicate data at a wireless hotspot before working on e-mail on a flight where no network access was available. Until we live in a world of seamless, always-on, high-speed Internet access regardless of location, these issues will still be a problem.
The quality of design determines user experience, regardless of whether a fat or thin client is being used. But with richer, usually fatter clients, however, there are more choices about where a service is provided by the client or the server.
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