Eric Farrar

Up until recently, Web applications were "connected-only" applications. Users could only use the application by connecting to the central server and all data access was done in a single place. For many years, people accepted that was the limitation of Web applications. But it isn't a limitation any longer. Over the past year a number of technologies have come along such as Adobe AIR and Google Gears that allow offline access to the data and the application. This is a huge boon to Web developers who, up until now, were hampered by the offline problem of Web applications. Both of these solutions employ a local, lightweight database to serve and store the data while the application is offline. Migrating your "connected-only" application to an "occasionally connected" application will likely require significant architecture changes to facilitate the change tracking and ... (more)

Why SaaS and ISVs Clash

Interest in cloud-based applications continues apace, but hosting can be a complicated endeavor for ISVs. The enduring popularity of Software-as-a-service (SaaS) isn't accidental. Whether you're a technology reseller or a traditional enterprise, there's a lot to like about the use of a service model for software delivery, including low monthly cost, fast time-to-market and few deployment hiccups. But SaaS does not reward all organizations equally. Unfortunately for ISVs, who fall on the 'delivery' side of the service-delivery relationship, the benefits of SaaS are tempered by ris... (more)

The Offline Web – Introduced Complexity

Up until recently, Web applications were "connected-only" applications. Users could only use the application by connecting to the central server and all data access was done in a single place. For many years, people accepted that was the limitation of Web applications. But it isn't a limitation any longer. Over the past year a number of technologies have come along such as Adobe AIR and Google Gears that allow offline access to the data and the application. This is a huge boon to Web developers who, up until now, were hampered by the offline problem of Web applications. Both of th... (more)

Isolated Customer Data: A Better Fit for the Cloud?

For all that global business has embraced cloud computing - welcoming its low cost, low barrier to entry and reduced IT burden - not everything about this architectural sea change is working out perfectly. Limitations in security and customization are a growing source of discontent for many current and prospective cloud customers. The need to serve similar data for many customers usually shows up in hosted environments. And for the majority of providers the default approach to satisfy that requirement is an amalgamated, "multi-tenant" customer database. Unfortunately, multi-tenan... (more)