 Client Software | End users always interact with client software, whether they using a stand-alone or a service-based application. Richer user experience can significantly improve productivity. Client software can be based on a variety of technologies: basic HTML pages, to Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (AJAX), browser plug-ins, or Smart Clients. It is important to choose the right technology based on the usage scenarios (for example, off line or, low-latency). In keeping with the flexibility needed for these solutions, Microsoft provides developers with a broad range of client capabilities to use for SaaS applications. |
| Web | The most popular interface for SaaS applications is a Web browser. | Internet Explorer The industry's leading browser in Windows offers advanced programmability and control over its features. This enables users to customize the browser as they need for their application. ASP.NET AJAX AJAX is a popular technique for programming SaaS clients. Microsoft offers ASP.NET AJAX for users who want to adopt AJAX for their browser-based applications. It consists of three parts: Microsoft AJAX Library - The JScript library for browser automation ASP.NET 2.0 AJAX Extensions - The server-side pieces that enable AJAX to work seamlessly ASP.NET AJAX Control Toolkit – Controls designed to take advantage of the AJAX programming style
WPF/E For systems that don’t support the full Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) API, Microsoft has previewed a technology called WPF/E that runs on non-Windows systems and enables functionality such as 2D graphics, animation, and video. WPF/E will be released sometime after WPF.
|
| Desktop | Web browser is not the only way to access SaaS applications. Smart clients and client side frameworks can be better for certain usage scenarios. Microsoft Office and Windows offer a rich set of features for creating applications that access services: | Microsoft Office Office has become a framework of applications and technologies that provide services across both clients and servers. With technologies such as Open XML, XML mapping of Word 2007, and significant improvements in the Outlook 2007 extensible object model and forms technology, the 2007 Office client applications provide an excellent platform for building high-performance and secure SaaS client software. Windows Vista With technologies such as ClickOnce, the current generation of Windows is a great choice for building smart client SaaS applications that can be deployed and maintained as easily as Web applications. The new version of Windows takes full advantage of the SaaS ecosystem. With dramatic enhancements such as Internet Explorer 7, sidebars and gadgets, security services, windows update and countless more, Windows Vista not only shines as a client in SaaS applications, but also “lights up” with services on the Web. Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) The Microsoft .NET 3.0 Framework is a unified programming model and runtime for building service-oriented applications, It provides advanced features to enable efficient, native communication with Web services in a SaaS environment. It is the core communication framework for programming both server-side and client-side applications.
|
| Xbox | XNA Framework The XNA Framework allows game developers to create modern games using the C# programming language and a rich set of development libraries. It provides a high level of API unification across the Windows and 360 implementations, thus virtually eliminating the cost and effort required to port games between these two platforms. Xbox Live Xbox Live is a set of online services for Xbox, such as multiplayer gameplay, friends list management, Xbox Live Marketplace, voice chat and voice mail. Additional entertainment services will be added.
|
|
|
|
|
|