We looked at two different types of applications last night: Forms Apps and Web Apps. What is the difference between the two? What are the advantages/disadvantages of each?
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Ryu Takatsuki says
We learned how to use Microsoft Visual Studio from last week’s class. I think that application is very powerful and useful to create forms Apps. I got a basic knowledge of how an application was built. Personally, I think it is really interesting since we can build many kinds of applications we want, this could be one of the advantages. “A web application or web app is a client-server computer program which the client (including the user interface and client-side logic) runs in a web browser. Common web applications include webmail, online retail sales, and online auction.” Web Apps are similar to Forms Apps, it’s stored on the Internet and can be executed on any browser. I think this is an advantage of Web Apps. An example of a web app would be Netflix, it provides a platform for users to streaming videos.
Patrick J. Wasson says
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Sarah Puffen says
Applications play an important role in technology- from using a standard notation app on a device, to browsing a company’s website. When a user thinks of applications, the first thing that comes to mind are applications downloaded to a smartphone, which are used to track aspects of everyday life such as budgeting or calorie counting. However, many average users may not realize that a website is technically an application (web app), and they make up the entirety of the internet. These applications are physical files made of html code, stored on a file system, that can be accessed by other users through the internet.
Forms apps are applications that are stored on each individual computer, such as the standard calculator app that comes on a PC. The main difference between forms apps and web apps is that if the file server housing the web app were destroyed, then that website would no longer exist. For forms apps, if someone deleted the calculator or notepad app off of a computer, that would not affect other PC users with same standard calculator app. So, while it’s intuitive that web apps hold the advantage over forms apps because they can be shared with a wider range of users and are accessible anytime, it is also theoretically easier to hack just one instance of a web application. With this in mind, forms apps technically have better security, considering that they are executed on a user’s PC without internet access, thus destroying one instance of a calculator will only take down that one calculator, not every calculator on each user’s PC. However, this also means that forms applications must be installed specifically to each PC, which isn’t beneficial to a company requiring its employees to have specific apps to complete work. As IT Auditors, having knowledge of how these applications are stored and executed would be constructive, considering the majority of businesses have websites and possibly employee portals, which could be another potential source of a database compromise.
Patrick J. Wasson says
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Yuchong Wang says
Applications create lots of convenience for our day-to-day activities. Both forms apps and web apps are meant to help us have convenient access to the utilities they provide. But forms apps are what already set up in ones individual computer like camera, video player, calculator; while web apps are apps that can access through the internet, such as facebook, twitter.
The advantage for forms apps is that it is secured and hackers can only deal minimal damage because it only affects one person’s user experience. But the disadvantage is that it is not 100% accessible for everybody anytime they want. Therefore, web apps compensate the disadvantage forms apps have. But web apps can be hacked and cause problems for all users who are using the web app. For example, if youtube is hacked, nobody can watch any video through it. The damage for YouTube is a damage for every Youtube user.
Patrick J. Wasson says
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Shuyue Ding says
Web applications are installed on a web server, and people can access web apps from any computer through Internat. In order to make a server to a web server, IT staff need to promote the server to a web server through “add roles and features”. The advantage is we can have access it as long as we have Internet and browser, but it also increases the vulnerability if the server.
Forms application is windows based and only have access from the system it’s installed. Microsoft Visual Studio is the tool to make one.
Patrick J. Wasson says
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Yuqing Tang says
The forms app is the typical applications that are installed on the local devices while web apps are the client–server computer program which can run in a web browser. Both of these two have their advantages and disadvantages. For the forms apps, since they are systematic applications with high technology designs running on local devices, they are more stabilized are more functions are available to use, but cost more when designing and the update experience is poor and troublesome. In contrast, the web applications are more cost-saving considering design and maintenance. However, every time a web app opens a page, it needs to be reloaded, and the lack of stability may cause some major problems.
Patrick J. Wasson says
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Xinye Yang says
The form application can only be accessed from an installed system while a web application can be accessed from any system through internet. the biggest advantage of web application is that it can run on a variety of platform including windows , mac, android and Linux etc. Also, the Microsoft Visual Studio we learned from last class offers a great platform to develop computer programs as well as web apps. However, the security could be the biggest disadvantage of web application, web application software runs on a server alone with the data it needs to access, this can be viewed as a security risk as all data
Patrick J. Wasson says
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Haixin Sun says
Forms applications are installed on a personal PC like calculator while web applications can be accessed through a Web server configured with Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) like TUmail. The main difference between them is the web applications is designed to run on browser or something like that. Forms applications is secure but the function is limited. Web applications may not all be secure but the function of them is various and can be updated in real time.
Jason M Mays says
The main difference is that form apps are stored in a clients computer and a web app is available everywhere via an internet browser.
Form Apps can operate without the need for internet access. The attack surface is much smaller compared to its web app counterpoint. The downside is that its availability is limited to the host system. It may also use up significant processing resources of the host system.
Web Apps are increasing in popularity in part because they are easier to update or apply patches too if you are managing multiple computers like in an enterprise environment. It also requires fewer resources from the physical computer, The downside is that the vector of attack is now much larger and potentially vulnerable to injection attacks or can be involved with man in the middle attacks. It can also mean that a failure in the web app can affect multiple users at the same time.