ZapThink: Client-side Web Technologies Inadequate to Meet Evolving Needs of Web Services

ZapThink: Client-side Web Technologies Inadequate to Meet Evolving Needs of Web Services
New Class of Rich and Smart Clients Evolving to Solve Next-Generation Computing Needs

WALTHAM, Mass.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–March 3, 2004–The Internet and Web have provided immense scalability and manageability benefits to computer users for a decade now, but at a price – poor support for rich interactivity. Now, companies are increasingly demanding a rich set user experience capabilities that include visual interactivity elements and instant access to information, interaction with distributed and remote applications, and integration with local desktop applications. ZapThink concludes in its report entitled “Rich and Smart Clients for Service-Oriented Architectures (SOAs)” that today’s Web technologies are wholly inadequate to meet the needs of emerging standards-based, loosely coupled, distributed applications.

“Simply put, today’s corporate portals must move beyond Web-based thin client technologies,” said Ronald Schmelzer, senior analyst with ZapThink. “Rather, companies must leverage the power of Web Services and Service-Oriented Architectures to offer rich clients that provide deep interactivity, yet retain the scalability and manageability benefits that browsers provide.”

ZapThink’s report analyzes a new class of rich client vendor offering and several approaches to providing rich clients that in part rely upon SOAs to provide the optimal combination of rich user interaction and low cost of ownership through standards-based distributed computing. The report identifies the windows of opportunities as well as market growth predictions for new entrants and incumbent vendors.

Other key findings of the report include:

• Rich clients will supplant portals as the primary interface to Web Services and Service-oriented functionality in the enterprise by the end of 2007.
• The total opportunity for rich clients for SOAs is over $923 million by 2010.
• The window of opportunity for new entrants in the rich client market will start to wane with the release of the Microsoft Longhorn update of windows in the 2006-2007 timeframe.
• The increasing adoption of sometimes-connected devices, mobile computing, asynchronous computing, and e-Forms will mandate widespread and rapid adoption of rich clients.

The report, available on ZapThink’s website at www.zapthink.com, discusses several companies, including Adobe (NASDAQ: ADBE), Altio, Apple, AT&T, Citrix, Curl, Cysive, DreamFactory, FileMaker, Focus Solutions, General Interface, Harmonia, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, JackBe, Kinitos, Laszlo Systems, Lucent, Macromedia (NASDAQ: MACR), Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), Motorola, Mozilla, Nexaweb, Novell (NASDAQ: NOVL), Oracle, Plumtree, RatchetSoft, SAP, SCO Group (NASDAQ: SCOX), Siebel, Softricity, TiVo, Vignette, and Vultus.

Read more at: ZapThink Press Release

Rich and Smart Clients for Service-Oriented Architectures

Companies originally moved to adopt standards-based technologies like those underlying the Web and the Internet as a way to achieve distributed computing functionality at a very low total cost of ownership. However, these companies had to forego many of the user interface and productivity advantages that other distributed computing methods, such as traditional client/server applications, used to give them. As a result, companies continue to struggle to address the issue of how to realize the benefits of rich clients in conjunction with the benefits of distributed, low-cost applications.

While companies have long delivered application functionality to Web browsers, users are now coming to expect increasingly greater interactivity from this presentation tier. They are demanding a set of rich user experience capabilities that include visual interactivity elements and instant access to information, interaction with distributed and remote applications, and integration with local desktop applications. Businesses today want to gain the operational and cost advantages of Internet and Web Services technologies, but don’t want the limitations that Web browsers impose on user interfaces.

This report discusses and analyzes approaches to providing the optimal combination of rich client interaction and low-cost interaction through standards-based distributed computing. In addition, this report will present an approach to designing SOAs that appropriately abstract presentation layer considerations and enable users to choose the user interfaces that are most appropriate to their business needs without having to change any underlying business logic.

FileMaker Integrates with New Microsoft Office 2003

“With the XML support in FileMaker Pro 6, developers and power users can
create solutions that connect workgroups and other users with a virtually
limitless number of other applications,” said Ronald Schmelzer, senior analyst
for ZapThink, a market research firm focusing exclusively on XML and web
services. “Building upon earlier support of XML, FileMaker Pro 6 has made
integrated XML import and export an inherent part of the application.”

Read more at: FileMaker Press Release

Apple and Web services, part one

But while WebObjects is the most visible Apple-related Web service product, it’s not the only one, according to Ron Schmelzer, founder and senior analyst of the ZapThink consulting group.

“Another significant advance (for Apple in Web services) is the OS X operating system itself,” he maintains. “It has a UNIX core, and so it will be much easier to port open source Web services tools to the Mac platform.”

Additionally, he says that the FileMaker workgroup database, owned by the FileMaker Apple subsidiary, may quietly become a backdoor development tool used by Apple devotees in corporations, particularly at the departmental level.

Read more at: TechTarget

Expanding The Potential of Filemaker With XML

The Extensible Markup Language (XML) is everywhere. It provides a standardized, versatile, and cross-platform way of describing and structuring data. With nearly 8.5 million units shipped worldwide, FileMaker is the leading workgroup database software for quickly creating and sharing business solutions. XML further extends the reach of FileMaker Pro 6. With the XML support in FileMaker Pro 6, developers and power users can create solutions that connect workgroups and other users with a virtually limitless number of other applications. Building upon earlier support of XML, the new FileMaker Pro 6 has integrated XML import/export in the application, to become even better connected to enterprise applications, systems, and business processes.

Unleashing the Power of FileMaker 6 with XML (article)

Explore the possibilities of using XML import/export with FileMaker Pro 6 in this white paper by Ronald Schmelzer, Senior Analyst for ZapThink, LLC.

Read more at: FileMaker

“New FileMaker Pro 6 Delivers … Integrated XML Support for Universal Data Exchange”

“By adding XML support, FileMaker is proving it can continue to deliver great benefit to corporate workgroups,” said Ron Schmelzer, senior analyst with ZapThink, an XML industry analyst group. “FileMaker ease-of-use combined with its rich XML support makes it an ideal platform for workgroups who need to boost productivity while fitting in with corporate IT environments.”

Read more at: Yahoo! Newswire

“FileMaker Pro 6 Adds XML Support”

“By adding XML support, FileMaker is proving it can continue to deliver great benefits to corporate workgroups,” said Ron Schmelzer, senior analyst with ZapThink LLC, a Cambridge, Mass.-based XML industry analyst firm, in a statement. “FileMaker ease of use combined with its rich XML support makes it an ideal platform for workgroups, who need to boost productivity while fitting in with corporate IT environments.”

Read more at: eWeek