Presented by: Keith Elder
This presentation was Microsoft-focused, so it wasn’t very applicable outside of a tightly controlled MS environment, but the technology was interesting.
A Smart Client, as described in the session, is what I might call a Rich Internet Application. There is client code that runs on your desktop, using WinForms, but the application is deployed via a URI like a Web App and can leverage SOA and more Web App features (like embedding the browser and using it to access a webpage for documentation).
The demo was clear and the ClickOnce install technology from Microsoft is definitely nice, if you are using an MS-only network. And, that was my fundamental problem. If you use anything other than an IT-controlled Windows desktop, the “Smart Client” is inaccessible to you.
I’m not convinced that Smart Clients are “better” than Web applications. I still think the future is in the browser being the platform or in more cross-platform technologies to accomplish “Smart Client”-like functionality.
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