A Review of Internet Technologies Part 1: Client Side Applications

Client side applications are software that act as an interface to access network and internet applications.  They can be full blown software applications or simple scripts and can be written in any programming language.  Common examples of client side applications include web browsers (firefox, internet explorer etc) used to browse websites, messenger clients used to communicate (aim, skype, text messaging) and desktop applications like microsoft outlook used to access email.

There are many client side applications that we never think of that are constantly running and interacting with a web server.  Anti-virus programs are always running and checking for new definitions/patches to download to keep our computers (and other client side applications) safe from attack.  Those of us without anti-virus (and even sometimes with anti-virus) may find that hidden client side applications can become installed on our computer to steal information and to make our lives miserable.

Client side applications are a rapidly evolving group of software.  I attribute much of the growth in diversity and quality of the applications over the last 10 years to much faster and widely available broadband internet which I will discuss in Part 2: Internet Infrastructure.  Updated infrastructure has created an explosive new market for mobile applications.  There are over 520,000 apps currently available for download in the Apple App Store.  The introduction of the Android Marketplace has tipped the mobile application scale to over 1,000,000 applications available for download.

Mobile apps have begun to take-over the marketplace.  Studies show that daily time spent on mobile applications now surpasses that of desktop and mobile web consumption.

Mobile applications have even started taking over time and money from gamers.  No market is safe from mobile.