Given a choice between desktop & web app, which would you choose?

[shogun]

I had to install a (desktop) application at a few big companies. What a mission to get permission to do that, and you have to go to every machine to set it up. Bug fix ? Same procedure all over unless you have some fancy auto update mechanism.

Web based is the way to go. As mentioned before, works on any device. Update? What a breeze.

Well with Click Once deployment, people can literally install it by clicking a link in a browser (that's how they'd open the web application anyhow). It will install in its own little safe directory, and not even touch the registry. This means the permissions required are at a bare minimum, and the software is sand-boxed. The program can force and auto-update, saving the hassle of worrying about bug fixes. If you find you have a critical fix, you can mark the deployment as such, and the next time they open the software, it can force them to upgrade before running the software again.

It's all about what tech you use to solve a problem.

[koeks]

Well with Click Once deployment, people can literally install it by clicking a link in a browser (that's how they'd open the web application anyhow). It will install in its own little safe directory, and not even touch the registry. This means the permissions required are at a bare minimum, and the software is sand-boxed. The program can force and auto-update, saving the hassle of worrying about bug fixes. If you find you have a critical fix, you can mark the deployment as such, and the next time they open the software, it can force them to upgrade before running the software again.

It's all about what tech you use to solve a problem.

true. when i started working we did desktop applications and when it was time to deploy we would deploy the application executables and DLLs to a shared folder on the server, and the users each had a bat file on their desktop that would copy all the executables and DLLs to a local folder and start the executable from there. So if there is a changes you just copy your changes to the shared folder and tell everyone to log out of the application and run it again.

[ghoti]

Web App.

[Majick]

Take a look at the requirements for your system. If a webapp can fulfil all the requirements I would choose it over a desktop application.

[SecretCode]

Neither. Or rather, both of them and more.

Data on a web / cloud server, access from a desktop app (Windows, Mac and Linux) and a mobile app (iOS and Android and that other option) and a web app.

If you're serious.

[jhv]

Web apps is the way of the future. Been working with software for 20 years and everything is moving towards web apps or clients accessing a web app server.

[iceman_coolasice]

From a maintenance point of view and additions etc. Definitely thin client - web app. Rishan Singh

[AcidRaZor]

I really didn't read through all of the responses, but here's my 2c as someone coming in from both sides (and mostly concentrating on web apps since 2002)

It depends

You can't just blindly decide "everything should be and will be web based". Nor can you say the opposite. It really depends on the nature of your application, what it is intended for and what kind of tasks it needs to perform.

Having said that, a good blend of both worlds can be achieved whereby you can have "thin-clients" (as I call them) that are essentially desktop-based apps get their data via a web service of some kind (caching wherever necessary) and also have a website sourcing data from the same service.

This allows you to have a very robust and powerful application to which people have access through either web or desktop. For example a sales rep would have the desktop app at work, but if he needs to check something on the road (or input data) he can use a straightforward-no-frills web app. This then affords him the ease-of-use of just connecting to any client's firewalled intranet (that has internet access) and gets him access to his company data.

That can, in turn, be turned into a smartphone application as well. Possibilities are endless.

However, like I said, this should be viewed on a case-to-case basis. If there's no reason for a desktop app, go web app. With local bandwidth being unlimited with some hosts and some ADSL connections these days, it's quite affordable and also much safer and less taxing on internal systems (you don't need your own servers/backup power etc, basically just a router connecting the office to the internet)

Pro's and con's exist with both, and most problems can be solved in both. Personally I think a symbiotic existence between web and desktop is what is needed (not always required, but still need to be thought of carefully) and to push forward into the future

[ToxicBunny]

true. when i started working we did desktop applications and when it was time to deploy we would deploy the application executables and DLLs to a shared folder on the server, and the users each had a bat file on their desktop that would copy all the executables and DLLs to a local folder and start the executable from there. So if there is a changes you just copy your changes to the shared folder and tell everyone to log out of the application and run it again.

Tut tut tut... such archaic thinking..

The batch file should have been in the login script... user does nothing, knows nothing and always has the most up to date version at the start of every working day.

[koeks]

Tut tut tut... such archaic thinking..

The batch file should have been in the login script... user does nothing, knows nothing and always has the most up to date version at the start of every working day.

We deployed during the day so that method worked, there was no need for the users to log off and on everytime we did a change, just close the application and open it again... It was seemless to the users they just knew that there is shortcut for opening the application.