Tired of using that Web access e-mail client? Going crazy filling out those
expense reports using a clunky Web-based system? Missing the superior and
responsive desktop application? You're not alone! According to the usability
research firm Nielsen Norman Group, "Billions of dollars are wasted yearly in
lost productivity as people wait for Web pages to perform duties that could
be better handled by a 1984 Macintosh-style GUI application."
The promise of Web architecture (no deployment, large scalability, no
firewall opening) is hard to refuse. Yet the wide deployment of HTML-based
applications has left end users craving for a responsive and productive user
interface. There have been several efforts to combine both the Web and the
rich UI (DHTML/ActiveX/Java applets). Unfortunately, these add more pain
rather than soothe.
The Droplets application platform, with the U... (more)