I take back all the nice things I said about client side computing. I was wrong!
UPDATE: I’m not certain that “client side computing” is the right name or wording. I’m referring to designing things that require less of the distributed computers and more of bigger servers online – maybe I’m calling an emphasis to beef up “thin clients” versus “rich clients” as a different way to describe…
We should put most of our efforts into online! If you can do it online, you can do it client side just that much faster?!?! Actually, I don’t think so. That requires manual distribution of all of the data, which is then static. Bad growth move, and much less extensible.
Let’s get on the bandwagon for increasing Internet bandwidth to everyone. That’s a battle worth fighting. I think trying to do client side is change resistance and fighting development and positive growth for the real direction we should be heading.
But, I’m just a geek who’s an edge case, an idealist, an early adopter, etc. Blah, blah, blah… 3 stages of adoption: 1 – No! We’d never need that. 2 – Well, ok, I guess we can think about it and maybe try it, but I don’t know why. 3 – Of course we want that! It’s always been there and we couldn’t live without it.
Bring it!
Filed under: Geek, Ideas, Leadership, Listening, Perspective
Great post! Unfortunately, I don’t necessarily agree. The disagreement mostly stems from the logistics and security aspects of the idea (and gaming
.
Unless we have a complete overhaul of operating systems, the internet, and the WAY people use the internet, we’re not going to have anything become completely web-based. Security would be my biggest concern!
But again, I’m one of those that tends to be a little more resistant to change.
Dave: Gaming is a huge industry. I’ll give you that. That is why it’s important to pay attention to it. Other than that, I think it should *not* be a reason to change the landscape of software design and collaboration software and social software, etc.
I don’t think that client side computing should be eliminated. The recent launch of Virtual Earth 3D includes a software download and install, but then it all still runs within the browser. That’s closer to what I’m thinking. It’s closer to being easy to use.
I just don’t see good reasons to continue to have big investments into client side computing. I don’t see the gain. I don’t see the practicality. I don’t see the long term benefits. I don’t see the ease of use. I don’t see increasing simplicity. I don’t see easy extensibility. I don’t see fewer headaches. All those things are what are needed for the future.
I think security can become good enough. I think bandwidth will increase. I think that future landscape of software is more flexible than client side computing allows. That doesn’t mean it will go away. It does mean that in an ideal world, no more investment would go into it. Those energies would be better put towards other technologies. (Example: Why invest in the older analog cell phones, when newer digital versions are more cost effective and have more capabilities? We really can get everyone to buy the new, digital versions. I think what I’m talking about is sort of like that.)
Hey, Google is investing in this space. Microsoft is investing in this space. Many other companies are investing in this space. Are they wrong? I don’t think client side computing is dead – yet. But, I do think it’s hard to lobby for increasing any investments in those areas.
Don’t worry about skills and jobs being needed. Those are still ginormous needs and even greater needs in the online world. Let’s go there.
Or, do we just want to make sure we keep having headaches so that we keep the pharmaceutical companies in business?
More fodder…
Jonathan Schwartz: I Believe in Network Clients
http://blogs.sun.com/jonathan/entry/i_believe_in_network_clients
[...] That’s broadband! This ads more fodder to my argument about spending more resources for online than for client-side computing. Further, here’s an article from Wired. Let’s keep the dev going. Let’s also be smart. I say it’s smart to remove resources from client-side dev and ad those to online apps and other dev work that is more extensible and easier to update and maintain. I specifically say we should remove resources from client-side because we have limits and choices need to be made. It really is a better long term approach. [...]