The rise of the Internet and the widespread implementation of corporate intranets have generated a growing need for instant access to mission-critical data and applications regardless of location, desktop platform, or network connection. To meet this need, enterprises everywhere are migrating their applications from the traditional desktop computing model to web-based computing models which provide centralized access to applications and data. With web-based computing, enterprises can provide data access to virtually anyone with a computing device and an Internet connection.
WebBase provides solutions ranging from simple access, to a real estate listing, to a complex data management application. You can make the contents of your database available to anyone browsing your site, or limit access to a specific audience that you control through password protection. In addition, you can make existing databases more powerful by adding hypertext links into reports. This feature allows users to delve into a report in greater detail, while maintaining the simplicity of a high level view.
The desktop is coming of age. With new technologies such as distributed computing and wireless connectivity spreading like wild-fire, the desktop is now no longer the only place that you can run applications.
The web browser is the new desktop, and in this white paper we will examine some of the reasons why web-based applications are more proficient (in terms of time, costing and resources) and also more accessible than traditional desktop-based applications.
What are the benefits of using a web-based application instead of a normal desktop application? Here¡¯s a quick list:
- They are installed in one central location (such as www.yoursite.com/product) and no installation is necessary on the desktop. Ultimately, this leads to quicker deployment, less end-user training, and no duplicate installations (such as one copy for home and one copy for work)
- Viruses, Trojans and worms that affect your desktop do not interfere with web-based applications, and cannot damage your data, as it is hosted on a remote web server
- They can be accessed simultaneously by multiple users, all running the one single web-application. If an update or bug fix is required, you simply update files in one location, and the changes are reflected to all users immediately
- Your end-users feel comfortable using their web browser, so they are already familiar with common browser elements, such as links, buttons, forms and images
- The licensing of web-based applications is generally cheaper and much more flexible than that of desktop applications