When they fold, you and your client could be stuck without an accounting system and worse without financial history in any searchable form. But most vendors on our accompanying chart have good products and long records of support and service. They re less likely to leave you in the lurch. A vendor who wants to rent his software for ASP use can now select from two technologies. With this meth od, most data processing is done at the client s computer, not at the ASP s Web site.
Program code moves from server to client and data moves for storage from client to server.
This is software that operates on the client s PC to interface with the vendor s software. The most popular middleware for ASP use is Citrix s WinFrame , though some ASPs use Microsoft s Terminal Services . It works fast over phone lines because whenever you type a change, it doesn t repaint a whole screen, just the section with the new data. It s awesome. Compare charges carefully.