Cloud Application VS Web Application
Hey, people!! So, here I am with my first ever blog which highlights the minor-lines between Cloud-Apps and Web-Apps which have been blurred over the time with the advancement of remote computing technology .
Starting with a short introduction to Cloud Apps and Web Apps which would later serve a better understanding to the key differences and similarities between them .
Web-applications are the applications which can be accessed through a server and are designed to run on a web-browser.For the proper working of a web-based application,constant monitoring on server-side needs to be done.A combination of server-side script(ASP,PHP,etc) and client-side script(HTML , JavaScript ,Adobe Flash) are commonly used to develop a web-app. Wikipedia, Youtube and Facebook serve perfect examples for web-apps.
Cloud-Applications ,on the other hand, refer to the software programs where cloud-based and local components work together and can be ranked as more advanced forms of web-based apps. Cloud-apps provide quick responsiveness and don’t need to permanently reside on the local device.They can function offline and can be updated online. Slack, Dropbox and Evernote are some of the in-demand cloud apps.
It should be noted that cloud-apps can be considered to be web-apps in the sense that cloud-apps can also be accessed through a web-browser similar to a web-app . BUT all web-apps cannot be referred to as cloud-apps. For a web-app to be considered as a cloud-app ,it must exhibit multi-tenancy to support various requirements and needs for consumers . (In multi-tenancy , the same software is accessed by several simultaneously connected users over the Internet). Also, the modern-web-apps must support virtualization technology which plays a significant role in cloud-era apps.(Virtualization enables IT organizations to run more than one virtual system and multiple operating systems and applications on a single server. The resulting benefits include economies of scale and greater efficiency.)
A key difference between cloud and web applications is architecture. A web-based application must have a continuous internet connection to function. Conversely, a cloud application or cloud-based application performs processing tasks on a local computer or workstation. An internet connection is required primarily for downloading or uploading data.A web application is unusable if the remote server is unavailable. If the remote server becomes unavailable in a cloud application, the software installed on the local user device can still operate, although it cannot upload and download data until service at the remote server is restored.
An example of a word-processing cloud application that is installed on a workstation is Word’s Microsoft Office 365. The application performs tasks locally on a machine without an internet connection. The cloud aspect comes into play when users save work to an Office 365 cloud server. Gmail, for example, is a web application that requires only a browser and internet connection. Through the browser, it’s possible to open, write and organize messages using search.
Overall, cloud-apps are more robust , scalable and flexible in comparison to web-apps. But the right choice for the type of the application to be employed depends on which facet of development the app is required. For instance,web apps may be more suitable for transaction platforms like booking services, information-sharing portals, bulletin boards, and e-commerce websites that is to say when internet connectivity is reliable.
