Web based desktops

Why?

Idea is to provide access to applications from anywhere from any platform

…all you need is a browser

Web vs thin client

Thin client - run lightweight client and execute complex application on server All processing is remote - performance over slow

links unpredictable Web - execute application locally and write

back data to server More predictable performance, feels local

because it is

Thin client drawbacks

Licensing expensive Need to get client software onto users

machines Need a lot of backend infrastructure

But you can run almost any application you can think of

Web drawbacks

Infrastructure requirements and scalability not clear

Applications are lightweight Feature light environment

But how many features do you really need?

AJAX

Key technology is ajax - asynchronous java application execution - ie the app doesn’t have to constantly keep writing data back but instead dumps back reasonably large buffers worth at a time.

History

Been here before: Desktop.com, dotcom boom startup

Download and install java apps locally Execute applications from web browser, save data

remotely Disappeared in the tech wreck in 2002 …

Why local download

Local download to ensure close responsiveness to keyboard ideal for word processors Reason why word processors on time sharing

systems not great (processing the letter ‘a’ problem)

Why asynchronous

Normal apps have to do a lot of writing back all the time - slows down execution and makes it difficult to do complex formatting applications Reason why htmlarea and Xinha only provide

basic texteditor capability

Google

Email Calendar Spreadsheet Wordprocessor

Never going to kill ms office but provides basic functionality

Writely - google’s word processor

Optimised to be an editor for blog posts Native file format is html Collaboration in the box

what does it look like?

But there is an alternative

Zoho office suite More office like in functionality Fuller featured Better export Includes collaboration

So why do we care?

Might be the future way of providing student access to basic office functionality

Might mean we can ditch pc’s and macs from IC labs

Might be really significant