RE: Question

John,

That is a point well taken. It may not be inertia against Plug-ins
pro-forma, but a lack (or preceived lack) of proper enterprise Plug-in
management software that make IT departments nervous. Still the selection,
testing, deployment cycle does not seem to get any shorter.

Doug McNeil
Architect
Product Supportability
Nortel Networks

-----Original Message-----
From: John Boyer [mailto:JBoyer@PureEdge.com]
Sent: Thursday, February 20, 2003 4:14 PM
To: Mcneil, Doug [CAR:D350:EXCH]; www-forms@w3.org
Subject: RE: Question


Hi Doug,

Actually, yet another option exists.  Enterprise deployment of a custom
plugin is only problematic if the enterprise has not invested in fairly
inexpensive and straightforward deployment software.  Sometimes this
software is sold along with the plugin itself by the plugin manufacturer.

The natural case in point that I can draw upon is the PureEdge browser
plugin for its secure XML forms language.  Certainly, you can get an
installer for it that can be run on a person-by-person basis, but you can
also get the so-called 'Internet Deployment System', which is a server-side
system that manages the deployment and upgrade of client-side software
packages.

This type of software is becoming increasingly commonplace as it makes short
work of deploying consistent client-side systems, including plugins.  It's
only people who don't know about these systems that still insist on the
reduced functionality of server-only solutions.

John Boyer, Ph.D.
Senior Product Architect
PureEdge Solutions Inc.