challenge from my powerbuilder colleague

[sanford101]

I got a senor colleague who used to be a power builder programmer who always
Insist the powerbuilder is the best.

We wrote an application in VB. It is multi_user application about 12 users. I install
The application in 12 workstations, But he said, in power builder he can install the exe
On a server (or hard drive where everybody has access), then created a shortcut icon; put the icon on everybody’s desktop. He said VB must be able do the same thing.

I felt like this is wrong, but to my surprise it is actually working
(For one user, I have not try the mult user yet)

But I still felt this is not right , might have potential problem, I just don’t know

What is going to happen down the road? Any wise guy know what is the potential Hazard of this?

It is a quite challenge

[Gen-X]

This is your typical battle between centralization and distribution.

While the Power Builder app doesn't need to be installed on everyones machine it is extremely large (the exe has to contain everything it needs) so transporting it around is difficult.

What happens if the server crashes? All 12 people are unable to use the program now... not just 1. If it is installed seperately on all 12 machines it might require more configuration and take up more space but one machine going down will not bring everyone else down so other users can continue.

Secondly, If newer versions of functions are brought out... bug fixes etc then the power builder app needs to be re-compiled and redistributed, while the VB app simply has the dll's changed underneath and it still functions as if nothing was different.

You will never win with this battle unless you are talking about which language is better for a very specific and well defined requirement. That is the only time one will shine above the rest.