NexaWeb: Rich Client for High Performance Web Services ZapNote

Product Description
Two of the often conflicting desires in IT is the need on the one hand for rich user interfaces that maximize a user’s productivity and on the other hand, the desire to decentralize computing so that a user can gain access to the widest base of IT assets at the lowest possible cost. These two forces are at odds because rich client interfaces, until recently, have only been possible in certain limited scenarios in which the business logic and computing resources were combined with the interface.

However, a new class of presentation layer is emerging. This rich client interface to Web Services provides an end user experience that is similar to client/server applications, with a rich graphical user interface, responsive performance and highly interactive functionality. In this vein, Nexaweb provides a software platform that combines the richness of client/server and desktop applications with the ability to interact with high-performance, distributed, Web Services-based applications. With Nexaweb, applications look and perform like locally-installed software, though most or all of the code is actually distributed across the enterprise network or beyond.

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ZapNote: DreamFactory – Server-Less Rich Client for Web Services ZapNote

Product Description
Users are coming to expect increasingly greater interactivity from their distributed applications. They are demanding a set of rich user experience capabilities from their Web and composite applications that include visual interactivity elements and instant access to information they have become accustomed to as part of their desktop computing experience. In addition, businesses want to gain the operational and cost advantages of deploying applications over the Internet, but don’t want the limitations that Web browsers impose on user interfaces.

DreamFactory hopes to eliminate the trade-offs that companies must make between rich client interfaces and low-cost distributed computing by offering a 100% client-based rich client solution that leverages XML, Web Services, and Internet protocols. Rather than requiring a proprietary server or other server-side technology, DreamFactory’s solution enables companies to build rich client solutions based on WebSphere, WebLogic, .NET, and other standards-based applications and platforms.

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Macromedia Flex: Expanding on Flash to Provide Rich Client Capabilities ZapNote

Product Description
Companies originally moved to adopt standards-based technologies like those underlying the Web and the Internet as a way to achieve distributed computing functionality at a very low total cost of ownership. However, such companies had to forego many of the user interface and productivity advantages that other distributed computing methods, such as traditional client/server applications, gave them. This fundamental drawback to thin clients like Web browsers let to an emerging class of vendor that offers rich client solutions that provide the optimal combination of rich, low-cost interaction through standards-based distributed computing.

Macromedia was one of the early pioneers in rich user interaction across the Internet. In 1997, they made a splash in the market with their Flash product, and as of the date of this report, over 90% of Web browsers and 500 million users are equipped with the Macromedia Flash player. Continuing this legacy, Macromedia has introduced its Flex product that leverages Flash to provide rich client capabilities over standards-based, loosely coupled distributed computing infrastructures.

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Curl: Pioneering Rich Clients for SOAs ZapNote

Product Description
A new class of presentation layer is emerging to solve a range of user interface challenges. Users are demanding a rich client interface to Web Services that provides an end user experience similar to client/server applications, with a rich graphical user interface, responsive performance and highly interactive functionality. The goal of this emerging rich client solution is to provide the optimal combination of rich, low-cost interaction through standards-based distributed computing.

Curl is a veteran to the market of rich client solutions for distributed Internet applications. The basis of their solution is their own runtime environment called Surge that provides an executable environment for the Curl language. Curl also provides a language that supports a rich set of user interface capabilities that users can extend to provide additional functionality, from simple macros to direct control over the positioning of subcomponents.

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The Rich Client: The New Interface for the Next Generation of Distributed Computing White Paper

Product Description
Companies originally moved to adopt standards-based technologies like those underlying the Web and the Internet as a way to achieve distributed computing functionality at a very low total cost of ownership. However, these companies had to forego many of the user interface and productivity advantages that other distributed computing methods, such as traditional client/server applications, used to give them. As a result, companies continue to struggle to address the issue of how to realize the benefits of rich clients in conjunction with the benefits of distributed, low-cost applications.

While companies have long delivered application functionality to Webbrowsers, users are now coming to expect increasingly greater interactivity from this presentation tier. They are demanding a set of rich user experience capabilities that include visual interactivity elements and instant access to information, interaction with distributed and remote applications, and integration with local desktop applications. Businesses today want to gain the operational and cost advantages of Internet and Web Services technologies, but don’t want the limitations that Web browsers impose on user interfaces.

To address these challenges, Macromedia introduces its Flex product aimed at providing rich client capabilities. Macromedia was one of the early pioneers in rich user interaction across the Internet. In 1997, they made a splash in the market with their Flash product, and as of the date of this report, over 98% of Web browsers and 500 million users are equipped with the Macromedia Flash player. Continuing this legacy, Macromedia has introduced its Flex product that leverages Flash to provide rich client capabilities over standards-based, loosely coupled distributed computing infrastructures.

Buy from Amazon The Rich Client: The New Interface for the Next Generation of Distributed Computing White Paper

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