Managing Offline Clients with the Smart Client Offline Application Block
The offline functionality provided by smart clients offers a lot of opportunity for developers, but there are numerous implementation approaches. The Smart Client Offline Application Block from Microsoft will disperse the confusion and let you leverage this technology in your own smart clients right away.
by Klaus Aschenbrenner
June 28, 2004
ich client. Fat client. Thin client. Web client. Add another to the list: the so-called smart client. But what is a smart client? A smart client:
Uses local CPU power
Communicates with Web services
Supports online/offline scenarios
Uses the device hardware
Provides automatic software updates
But here's a better question: Why should you use a smart client?
Running your application in the browser is like having your office in the elevator. — Alan Cooper
Just because it's a popular place and gets a lot of traffic doesn't mean it offers the best environment for the work you need to do.
It reminds me of the tremendous uptake of ASP.NET shortly after the .NET Framework was announced. Because ASP.NET was first of the .NET citizens to market, many companies began using it immediately and never evaluated other technologies such as Windows Forms. But ASP.NET is not a good choice for all applications.
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ich client. Fat client. Thin client. Web client. Add another to the list: the so-called smart client. But what is a smart client? A smart client: 
