Hi,

OK. Just whilst the coffee brews...

>What if you are running on a Mac at home - or in an Internet Cafe that doesn't have the appropriate version of the .NET framework (or any version), or an iPhone, or on a Linux box. No way will your software work in those circumstances.

Conversely, what if you have no internet connection? No way will a web-based application work in those circumstances :-}

But, for the sake of argument assume that there is an interent connection available to both of you. I've yet to see a browser based UI that comes even close to providing the look-and-feel of a winforms based app.

>Sure - you can run desktop apps from remote locations but, there has to be preparation and downloads. If you want to add newer features from a later version of .NET, then your users have to get newer versions of your application and, a .NET upgrade which is the real "biggie" in this scenario.

New .NET versions don't occur that often - and, of course, there's no obligation to start using them. But, given the specified internet connection, then the .NET version can be updated transparently, as can the application itself, using MS Click-once.

>We have been hamstrung by our users that run Windows version from Win2K through Win Vista. We always have to work to the lowest common denominator. More often than not, features from the next version of .NET can mean a requirement for newer operating systems (like WinXP SP2+ to have http.sys available) that the user already has and this invariably means upgrading hardware.
We have the lions share of the UK SME bookkeeping software market and this is a major issue on every release of every product we ship.

Surely this type of problem is somewhat specific to the market you are in. I don't think Bonnie works in the same environment (I'm sure she'll correct me if I'm wrong)
But I'm curious. Given that, by definition, you have a large number of clients with small businesses then how is the web-server side maintained. Are many of them happy to have their data on a un-owned server that is shared with others? If not, and they use their own web servers, then surelt you've a pretty large deployment job when it comes to updating the server code anyway.

>This wouldn't be the case with browser apps, whether they be Ajax or, god forbid, proprietory Silverlight/Flash apps :)

Not sure what you have against these - I still think that for a web-based app to be even remotely acceptable for day-in,day-out use it needs a much richer interface then you can obtain using bog-standard HTML. It just isn't practical to ship the whole thing backwards and forwards from the server everytime there's a change.

>Deployment/installation/versioning are a real pain with desktop apps - you just can't get away from that no matter how cunning you are.

As mentioned above Click-once can certainly ease that.

Anyway, coffee's ready, Best,
Viv

P.S. Have you looked at XBAP?

>
>>You can still have desktop apps that can be accessed remotely at home or wherever.
>>
>>Our apps can be installed as what we call a "small client" app ... 2 DLLs and one EXE installed (just copied) on the workstation, everything else downloaded automatically, as needed, by reflection from a web server ... and all communication done through web services. It also works as a "no client" app, where simply by accessing the EXE via a URL, it can be run without having to install anything at all on the workstation (other than to have the .NET Framework already on the workstation).
>>
>>Reflection is what enables this whole methodology to work and it's pretty cool (it's a teeny bit slower than having the "full client" installed on the workstation, but most of the time it's not a noticeable slow-down).
>>
>>Desktop apps are certainly still viable. =0)
>>
>>~~Bonnie
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>>>"the desktop is dead"
>>>>
>>>>A bit premature. Our whole business is built on the desktop and our clients have not asked for anything web-centric yet. In fact they ask us to put more features on the desktop
>>>
>>>What I actually said was "for my money, the desktop is dead".
>>>
>>>If I were you though, I think I would start to diversify a tad. When a competitor comes along in your space with a system that allows your users to access their system when at home or at a clients' premises ie., away from their desktop, you might just start to have a problem.
>>>
>>>I work for a world-wide accountancy software company. Our users asked for more features on the desktop until competitors came along with SaaS based solutions and now, we have a fight on our hands.
>>>
>>>>. It would depend on your targeted market.
>>>
>>>Wouldn't argue with that.