|
Lighter Interface Option Unveiled by looksoftware
Published: April 25, 2006
by Alex Woodie
Looksoftware, a developer of application modernization solutions for iSeries and mainframe servers, this month unveiled a scaled-down version of its thick client interface that it thinks will be ideal for iSeries customer and ISVs, called the liteclient.
The Australian company, which doesn't use capital letters with its product names, sells a suite of tools for redeveloping OS/400 applications, including its newlook on-the-fly GUI generator, its centric application and database integration component, its soarchitect Web services generation layer, and its lookserver runtime component.
Previous to this announcement, users interacted with the applications re-architected by looksfotware's development and integration tools using one of three GUIs, including the Windows-based smartclient, the Web-based thinclient, and the mobileclient, which is designed for the small screens found on cell phones and PDAs.
Now users have a fourth option in liteclient. This product delivers some the capabilities of the smartclient, including support for datagrids, tree controls, and the "type ahead" feature, in which the interface guesses what you are entering into a field to save you time. What liteclient lacks is the capability to consume Web services and to directly access a database, which are features found only in the high-end smartclient product.
Looksoftware says liteclient is well-suited to the typical iSeries transaction users who requires high performance, whereas smartclient is best suited to knowledge workers. The new product also costs less and could make better sense than the full smartclient interface for iSeries ISVs who OEM looksoftware's technology.
|
