NYCPHP Meetup

[csnyder]

On 7/4/07, Tom Melendez <tom at supertom.com> wrote:
>
> See above, this is only more work (and a lot more work at that) for you with
> no real benefit IMO.  You now have the issues of backups, upgrades, support,
> maintenance, security fixes on individual, possibly not-internet-connected
> machines for which you probably can't charge for.  The computer-illiteracy
> of your clients is even more of a reason to keep it web-based as they don't
> want to deal with this stuff, either.
>

Wow, +1. I'm busy trying to wean the .org I work for off of a desktop
app because the deployment and support costs are staggering as
compared to a web business model. Do you really know what you're
getting into deploying to the desktop?

In addition to what Tom said, think through how you will release
critical updates, particularly if they change the database schema. Are
you willing to visit (or at least do remote desktop sessions with)
each of your clients to handle the details? What if they customize the
app between upgrades?

These issues crop up with web deployment as well, obviously, but one
deployment on a server (and one monthly hosting fee) could support
thousands of users.

-- 
Chris Snyder
http://chxo.com/