Thick Clients Started...

This past week I started the section of my sabbatical on thick clients. This phase has two outcomes I am investigating.

Outcome one has to do with the development of a download able mobile app that would serve some educational purpose. I have decided on an application I started last year that displays a search able campus map (GCC Mapz). Since the first couple of weeks of school are always challenging for a new student to find their way around and since evening students do not have the available persons to ask directions to rooms and buildings on campus, I have written and application that can be downloaded once and used over and over to help locate building at GCC.

The application is already mobile ready for the .Net environment (and for mobile devices running the Microsoft Mobile or SmartPhone operating systems). I am now focusing on writing the application using the Sun Java Mobile SDK so that it can run on more types of mobile devices and finally, I will develop it on the Google Android environment which represents a future platform for mobile applications. I am working through the Java app right now.

GCC Mapz running in Windows PDA Emulator




















The second outcome I am interested in for thick clients will be deployment. What cell phone carriers can I download these applications to and the process for doing so? This is an area where I do not have much existing experience and I am expecting to spend time with Verizon, t-Mobile, AT&T, Sprint and Qwest staff and technical web pages understanding how applications are downloaded from their systems. This is an area which is rapidly changing due to the success of the Apple iPhone and the iPhone App Store.

I will also look at other deployment options such has Internet based wi-fi connections and Blue-Tooth connectivity.

I will do a little traveling this week so my sabbatical goes mobile. Keep watching my mobileDot web site for changes (note: with Google Site you can subscribe to changes and see how and what I am updating).

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