title: Web-Service vs Client-Server Distributed Computing Technology
body: <p>Premising that I'm a newbie in Web Services technologies, and am just beginning to study them, I wasn't able to understand in a precise way why should I implement a Web Service rather than a standard Client/Server protocol.</p>
  
  <p>1 - Can anybody please help me understand?</p>
  
  <hr>
  
  <p>I found on the web some indications but would like you to confirm / extend them, in order to help me put all pieces together.</p>
  
  <p>2 - Are the following statement correct and could you please explain them to me?</p>
  
  <p><strong>1.</strong></p>
  
  <pre><code>A guideline that I was told: 
  If you plan on reaching out to multiple clients (Linux, Windows, etc.), 
  then use Web Services; otherwise, use Client / Server.
  </code></pre>
  
  <p><strong>2.</strong></p>
  
  <pre><code>If your application needs to be run on machines that would access the data 
  over a public network (internet) then you should go with web services because 
  the traditional client/server model is not acceptable due to not wanting 
  to expose your server publicly.
  The web services you would expose publicly could be secure (HTTPS),
  require some kind of authentication and only expose what you WANT to expose, 
  versus exposing a whole database
  </code></pre>
  
  <p><strong>3.</strong></p>
  
  <pre><code>One of the better reasons to use remoting is that it gives a large increase in
  performance. But one of the down falls is that it is a good bit more complicated
  to program than Web Services.
  </code></pre>
  
  <p><strong>4.</strong></p>
  
  <pre><code>The proper use of web services is really based on your "remote connectivity"
  needs. If your application is going to be run in a controlled environment such as
  a LAN/WAN where you can see the server thru a private or secure (VPN) network,
  then you can build a traditional client/server application
  </code></pre>
  
  <p><strong>5.</strong></p>
  
  <pre><code>Web Services:
  
  Though there are no major differences in the output of service with both these
  models, the mobility and accessibility is definitely an advantage. 
  However, the lack of a great deal of personalization does come as a con against 
  the web-server based model.
  
  Client Server:
  
  The added security of client server is definitely a one up and it also gives the 
  option of controlling the updates and upgrades if any. 
  Initially though, client servers may come with a higher front-end cost.
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Statements were extracted from the following links:</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li><a href="http://www.ehow.com/facts_7644572_services-vs-client-server.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.ehow.com/facts_7644572_services-vs-client-server.html</a></li>
  <li><a href="http://metrix.fcny.org/wiki/download/attachments/7328/Web-based+Apps+vs+Client-Server+Software.pdf?version=1" rel="nofollow">http://metrix.fcny.org/wiki/download/attachments/7328/Web-based+Apps+vs+Client-Server+Software.pdf?version=1</a></li>
  <li><a href="http://p2p.wrox.com/net-web-services/17221-web-service-vs-client-server.html" rel="nofollow">http://p2p.wrox.com/net-web-services/17221-web-service-vs-client-server.html</a></li>
  </ul>