Chapter 18. Ten Reasons to Ditch Web Programming
In This Chapter
Opting for Office and VSTO over hand-built ASPX programs
Changing your perspective of Web programming
When faced with a set of requirements, many developers reach for the nearest tool at hand, ASP.NET. The new Office toolkit is overlooked too often. This chapter is all about looking for ways to use functionality that is already built to solve some problems.
Do we think you should really ditch Web programming? Of course not. The next time a customer comes to you with a fierce set of requirements that includes a tight budget and impossible timeline, though, think VSTO. It may solve those problems a lot better than a Web application!
Smart Clients Are Smarter!
The best reason to ditch Web programming is simply that smart clients are smarter. By using Office as your platform, you combine the low maintenance of the thin client with the solid performance of a fat client.
In a Web environment, even using ASP.NET and the AJAX tools, you're constrained by the Web browser and network environment. In a VSTO environment, you have no such constraints. If you want to pull up a Windows form, you can. If you want to launch a Web browser or use a Web service, you can. And if you want the Office UI to handle things, it can.
Cross-Platform Needs Are (Often) Overstated
The No. 1 argument we hear for Web development is "I don't want to force my users into a browser choice" or "What about Macintosh?" Our answer more often than not is "Who cares?" ...
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