Phillip Brittan

Microsoft is redefining the application interface around rich clients, and if Java does not have an answer, it faces being cut off from end users. The answer lies in matching Microsoft's richness while trumping it on security. There is a movement afoot in the world of enterprise applications toward "rich clients," reversing the past few years' trend that abandoned client/server in favor of Web-based interfaces. One of the most vocal champions of this is Microsoft, which would like to see a return to fat-client software bound to its Windows desktop operating system. The customers' desire for rich clients is well founded.The deployment ease of HTML into ubiquitous browsers seemed a boon to CIOs, but as end users soon discovered, Web pages are not necessarily well suited to be interactive user interfaces. Studies have shown that poor usability has very significant econ... (more)