1. An application server system, comprising: a main server; one or more clients controlled by the main server and operable to execute one or more applications, each client executing one or more virtual client environments, each virtual client environment comprising: one or more application objects, each application object associated with an application being executed at the client and operable to store operating information related to the associated application; a lightweight server operable to: instantiate the application objects in response to receiving configuration information from the main server; receive operating information from the application objects relating to the operation of the associated applications and communicate the received information to the main server; and control the applications based on at least one of: (i) the configuration information received from the main server and (ii) further instructions received from the main server after instantiation of an application object.