PSFT is recommending deploying Internet Explorer over Citrix...

at 12.30 today, there is a presentation over the benefits of using citrix to help deploy Internet Explorer for the use of EnterpriseONE !

You heard it here first ! I believe that we had a thread the other week that talked about the use of Citrix in this manner - many companies are starting to realize that deploying their ERP system over disparate Internet Explorers - each with different spyware - is a bad idea !

http://www.peoplesoft.com/corp/en/news_events/events/advisor/pa_session_info.jsp?sID=2572

By the way - I certainly hope someone will ask the darn question "why eliminate windows" when we're still having to use Citrix !!!!!

I don't know that it is so much PS recommending as giving you the option:

"The Benefits of Using Citrix in PeopleSoft(R) EnterpriseOne Pure Internet Architecture Application Deployments"

I think that they have come under a huge amount of pressure from Citrix to do this. A sales manager I know at Citrix has been hitting me with their solution/answer to "Pure Internet Architecture" for over a year now. Citrix has to realize that their entire technology model is hugely threatened by "Web Apps" and will do most anything to get their story out, including pressuring PS to do a web presentation. One look at the PDF of the presentation Power Points and you can tell that this is a Citrix-written presentation.

I think that for large companies with a large number of browsers this might be a good option. What I would really like to see is browsers secured and utilizing standards. This would get us to where we want to be faster than using a windows-based server to deliver a browser so users can use a web-based product.

Agreed, this is certainly a presentation made by Citrix with Peoplesoft standing by - but why make this presentation to EnterpriseONE customers ? Hasn't citrix always been viewed as a competitive technology to PSFT's technology ? They're always sensitive about this sort of thing - why promote the presentation to PSFT customers ?!?! Surely, Citrix could have made this presentation to their own customers - which are CERTAINLY much larger than PSFT's customers !!!

Citrix has never really had a very good relationship with JDE or PSFT - they have always been held in contempt for some reason, even though their technology delivers the solution that the customers desire. I know this from first hand experience, when I introduced Citrix to JDE and we could NEVER put together an "official" relationship the entire time I was there because middle management perceived the technology either as a "dying technology" or a "competitor to the webclient". Its a pity, since had they actually signed up a reseller relationship, they would have made millions in commissions for doing very little.

However, this presentation addresses one of the core issues with the deployment of web - which I thoroughly agree with, and have been mumbling about recently - which is the security issues and manageability issues of Internet Explorer in the enterprise. So much spyware, so many different configurations of browsers have lead to an unmanageable mess with the IT department. You don't have this issue with Citrix. Secondly, HTML traffic is often MUCH higher than Citrix traffic - even in the presentation they show double to three times the traffic with JAS versus citrix.

well - at the end of the presentation, they really balked at a few of the questions.

The questions I asked were :


1. Is 8.11 going to be WEB only ? Is there absolutely no way to deploy Win32 clients over citrix ?

Answer - yes to all of the above

2. Is this presentation written by Citrix or Peoplesoft ? Is it a recommended method for control of desktop clients by Peoplesoft ?

Answer - the presentation was written by citrix, it is an alternative deployment method

3. Is this a presentation to counter the threat by the industry move towards "web applications" by Citrix ?

Answer - there are no security issues with web applications (peoplesoft must not understand how spyware operates)

4. Is this presentation an admittance for the peoplesoft EnterpriseONE security issues seen with internet-only deployments ?

Answer - see the above

5. How are the extra servers and the extra layers of the protocol simplifying the deployment ? Could you comment on the JAS Generation extra processes here ?

Answer - have you seen the latest web client ? (Answer from me - yes !!!) - then you'll understand that the web is simpler than the fat client solution (???? - still unsure what on earth they're looking at here)

I guess thats what you get when the marketing people at peoplesoft put together technical presentations.

If Peoplesoft are listening - spyware exists. It is extremely easy to demonstrate key-sniffing spyware that can be installed just by visiting a couple of websites that can transmit sensitive information back to a hacker. Web-based applications are NOT secure, and the proof is the number of identity thefts that have occurred with "phishing". The internet is NOT a secure place. Secondly, passwords and data are transmitted through the network as clear text with Websphere.

However, Citrix makes transactions far more secure. 128bit full encryption on packets ensures that it is extremely difficult to "hack" citrix servers remotely, and almost impossible to sniff packets to identify sensitive information.

Unfortunately, no-one is ever going to admit that they made the wrong choice 5 years from now.

OH-KAY... I understand the issue with web-only clients (over citrix -
ha ha ha)... but... what will development be done on?

Being a developer - I have a vested interest in the development tools.
Are they going to stay FAT?

db



--

Are they suggesting to use Citrix Web Interface (nFuse) to publish Internet Explorer which will run the web version of EnterpriseOne?

Take a look at the Power Points

Jon,

I couldn't agree more. I'm behind you all the way.

I understand that PSFT is now entirely marketing-driven (firstly, due to slow sales and secondly, due to some enigmatic marketing managers in Denver), but this inevitably will have to turn around when the sales slow even further or after a few failed implementations with the "WEB-only" 8.11, which I do not doubt will happen.

It would not surprise me if the Fat Client comes back at around 8.15.

Microsoft has already tried this way and reconsidered: they are now developing technologies alternative to WEB, such as .NET. Their bottom line reason was that WEB development is more difficult.

It is interesting to note that the slowdown in sales occurred at about the same time as the push towards the web only solution....

Hi,

Well if the core issue is about security of Web based applications , how come other ERP softwares like PeopleSoft Enterprise which is purely web based have not had problems...or have have they..?

You know, that's funny - the slowdown in sales at the former JDE came around the time the use of Terminal Server(ices) was being pushed. And then they got bought out. Hmmmmmm..... I wonder if the guys who originally pushed Citrix as a solution brought about the downfall of JD Edwards?


Coincidence? No, just a silly statement that attempts to boil down a complex issue into a single item. It ain't always about the technology. As a matter of fact, it is rarely about the technology.

Per PSFT, the FAT client will still exist in 8.11 for developers only. Now if the FAT client will still exist, I can't see why you wouldn't be able to publish it to Citrix. Unless they block the app from running if they detect terminal services running.

lol

you're right

I DID bring the downfall of JDE !

LOL

ok - it was a silly statement.