Thin client and rich customer service side

See WebService today, see this thin customer service end, have not heard before, so specifically to check the explanation of some information

1 Thin customer service side

Thin clients (Thin client) refer to a basic computer terminal in the client-server network system that does not require an application. It communicates with some protocols and servers, and then accesses the local area network. The advent of the Internet as an application platform provides an entirely new area for enterprise applications: A internet/intranet-based application uses a thin client that contains only one browser. This browser is responsible for interpreting, displaying, and processing the application's graphical user interface (GUI) and its data. Such an application only needs to be installed on a Web server, the user can automatically receive the upgrade. The idea that a solution needs to be deployed only once, even for thousands of users, is fascinating, especially because Internet technology has helped us alleviate some of the barriers of traditional applications, such as firewalls and support for multiple platforms. The thin client transmits its mouse, keyboard and other input to the server processing, the server then sends back the processing result to the client display. Different clients can log on to the server at the same time, simulating a working environment that is independent of each other and on the server. In contrast, the normal client will do as much local data processing as possible, communicating only the necessary communication data to the server (or other client).

The so-called "thin client" means that we only need a general terminal equipment (PC, handheld device, etc.), you can have the computing processing power of the super computer. In fact, this is not far away from us. The development of BS applications has allowed us to achieve hundreds of millions of search calculations via Google, as long as a smart phone with a general configuration is available.

The above model is familiar to everyone. The client issues instructions, the server receives the instruction, executes the operation, and returns the result to the client. But what I'm going to talk about in this series is not the model above, but:

Our mobile phone (thin client) is no longer Google search, the search task is simple sender and recipient, but a more real-time operation of the supercomputer feel. Every time we move the mouse, click, keyboard input, touch screen sliding, as if the phone itself is a supercomputer. With such thin client, we no longer need to buy expensive, ashes configuration of the computer, and we only need a very low-profile netbook, tablet computer, or smart phone, can be just as refreshing to play World of Warcraft, Need for speed. Smart watches for calls in future sci-fi movies, and glasses for viewing battle indices, are likely to be achieved. At the same time, we are no longer worried about the cross-platform of the program. In thin clients, you can execute various applications across platforms, such as Xcode in the Word,linux openoffice,mac of Windows. What's even more surprising is that before we run a piece of software, we don't need to go through the "download", "Install" steps, but use them immediately. No matter how big the game is, the software is more complex to configure. I have even ventured to speculate that in the future, people will no longer use operating systems such as WINDOWS,LINUX,MAC and will instead be fully network-based operating systems. The existing operating systems, the loss of individual users are also difficult to maintain development, will slowly be eliminated. Finally, there will be a variety of completely network-based operating systems based on different thin client protocols. Google is now developing the chromium operating system, it is in line with this trend of development, but specifically how, I have not used, it is not good to say

In this series, I try to avoid the use of "clouds" such as fried hot words. We have seen too many so-called "clouds", nine out of ten is pseudo-cloud, such as the largest anti-virus in the field of cloud Avira. Cloud computing and the thin customers here have a certain fit, but not exactly the same. Cloud computing emphasizes the ability to compute on demand in large-scale data centers, like centralized power plants. Cloud computing is the service side of the "fat", thin customers emphasize the client's "thin", if the combination of the two will be a spark.

The future is not far away, we can think of, there are people trying. Famous foreign countries have onlive,gaikai,otoy and so on, they have realized through the private protocol, in the configuration of the general machine, remote play like the island crisis and other large-scale games. Especially OnLive, because of its strong strength, and hardware providers, network providers, game developers have a deep cooperation. For example, OnLive custom-made hardware developed by the company, and American Arts and Crafts Limited (electronicarts), Ubisoft (Ubisoft), Take-two Interactive Software (Take-two Interactivesoftware), Warner Bros., Interactive entertainment and British-American Art Electronics Co., Ltd. (Electronicarts), Ubisoft (Ubisoft), Take-two Interactive Software (Take-two Interactivesoftware), Warner Bros., Interactive entertainment and British and digital reached a deep cooperation. Even Google Microsoft, want to buy out OnLive technology.

ipad Show OnLive demo:http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_xmtgymzyznji4.html

Domestic also has a company to achieve such technology, called cloud-linked technology. The company has only been set up for more than a year, in China's existing network environment, in the absence of customized hardware under the premise of making such amazing results, have to let people sighed.

But why is it that such a good technology has not been popularized yet? The biggest hurdle is "latency" and huge service-side consumption.

First, the delay. This is referred to as "latency", not "bandwidth". Why is it? The delay in English is latency, and the bandwidth of English is bandwidth. Most of the time, people confuse the two. Some people do not understand, why my bandwidth to the Unicom 4M, play Telecom server online games will also card? Bandwidth is the maximum transmission capacity per second, and the delay is the time that the signal request has elapsed from the point of issue to receipt.

Myth: As bandwidth grows, so does the delay.
The above figure is clear, if the transmitted data does not reach the bandwidth limit, even if the bandwidth is large, the signal from the time of occurrence to receive t1-t0, only depends on its transmission speed and distance. If the server in the United States, distance can not change, Einstein said that the speed of the limit is the velocity of light. The transmission speed of fiber may only reach 40% of the speed of light. So if you're going to send data to a location 4000 kilometers away, like California to Massachusetts from the United States, the delay could be less than 44 milliseconds.

Games or software actually consumes less bandwidth, and bandwidth can be infinitely increased theoretically, and latency is the biggest problem, because the speed of transmission cannot exceed that of light. For example, I used to use telecom 512K bandwidth network play sword three, very smooth. Now I use Unicom 4M bandwidth to play sword three, but the delay is very high. Just like Gaikai, a company that is limited by distance can only accept demo applications from Los Angeles area players. Reduce latency, speed up transfer rates in limited cases, and minimize the distance to transport, for example, deploying servers nearby.

Another hurdle is the huge consumption of service-side. We can imagine that we need to spend a lot of money to buy a good performance machine in order to smooth play the island crisis and other large-scale games. Like OnLive, a cloud game server vendor, the equivalent of needing to give each of us a server like this one. The cost of visibility is huge. Even with OnLive's own custom hardware, a single server can serve only a few people.

In addition to using thin clients to play large games, we can also run our daily use of software or mini-games with thin clients. No need to download, no installation, one point, cross-platform, how attractive! In addition, the software does not require high-definition transmission screen compared to the game, so the bandwidth requirements are much lower. Software%8 also no longer needs to be developed for each platform. Theoretically we only need a version of "Plants vs. Zombies" that can be run on various devices such as iphone, Android, PC, etc.

2 Rich customer service side

Rich Internet applications (Rich Internet Applications,ria) leverage highly interactive rich-client technologies to provide users with a higher and more comprehensive network experience. Ria integrates the interactivity of desktop applications with the deployment flexibility and cost analysis of traditional Web applications to create a single, complete user experience. Rich client technology makes it possible to create a RIA that provides a runtime environment to host a compiled client application that is a file that is published using the HTTP protocol. Client applications use an asynchronous C/s structure to connect to an existing application server, a secure, upgradeable, and well-adapted service-oriented model that is driven by the currently used Web service. Rich-client technology is constantly being perfected, but it doesn't mean replacing HTML. Instead, it will further extend the browser functionality to provide a more efficient and user-friendly interface. Many RIA runs in the browser, even though it is part of the HTML itself, so the HTML will continue to retain its original role. In addition, because rich-client technology can support moving images, video, audio, bidirectional data communication and create complex forms, it provides an efficient and sophisticated development environment for creating application user interfaces. Ria Development must have three elements: Rich client technology, server technology, and development tools. Rich client technology leverages the processing power of the local machine to process data without having to send some data to the server for processing, taking advantage of the resources of the local machine. Server technology provides a connection mechanism to rich clients, and as a RIA server technology must inherit from existing server technologies, providing a fast scripting environment that supports database application development, bidirectional data communication, real-time data communication, and even a new server, such as: ColdFusion server, Flash Communication Server, and more. RIA implementations must have a simple and efficient set of development tools, and without a simple and efficient set of development tools, rich client technology and server technology are meaningless. It is due to the C/s structure of RIA that it requires a set of development tools to work together to complete. Although there are many rich-client technologies, Macromedia Flash Player is widely adopted and has become a network standard for rich-client technologies. Flash Player is already a ubiquitous rich media client that can run on different browsers and operating systems, so it is a cross-platform, cross-operating network client. The concept of "rich" contains two aspects, namely, it has a rich user interface and rich data model.

Thin client and rich customer service