However, let’s back up a bit. A rich client is a small piece of software that runs on the client to leverage and aggregate back-end Web services, allowing them to appear as a single, unified, native application. Indeed, a new interface is needed as both developers and end users begin to understand the limitations of traditional Web-based interfaces, which are the current interfaces-of-choice for many distributed applications.

Why a Rich Client when deploying interface within enterprises? Truth-be-told, Web interfaces, in wide use within enterprises, were never really designed to support true interactive applications. The Web was built as a content provider serving up documents and not dynamic application services. If you think about it, you’re reloading document after document to simulate an interactive application, and always have to go to the back-end Web server to request new content. Very little occurs at the client.

As the Web became popular and we looked to support business applications within the enterprise using the Web interface, we began to create new mechanisms to deliver dynamic content including dynamic HTTP/HTML pushers (e.g., CGI, ASAPI, ISAPI) and new browsers that supported complex dynamic behavior. We are at such an advanced state today, that entire enterprises run most of their relevant business applications using Web interfaces.