1. A computer-implemented method performed by a management process, the method comprising: downloading a streaming model file and one or more initial execution files from a server via a conventional download protocol without using a specialized streaming protocol, the one or more initial execution files comprising a first portion of the application file that is less than the entire application file and only partially implement an application, the streaming model file comprising download information identifying additional portions of the application file to be downloaded from the server; reading data from the one or more initial execution files and storing the data in a local copy of the application file; executing the application by executing the local copy of the application file; and until the entire application file has been downloaded and as the application is executing, reading the download information of the streaming model file to identify a next file to download, downloading the next file via the conventional download protocol without using a specialized streaming protocol, reading next data from the next file, and storing the next data in the local copy of the application file.