|
Tested
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April
2001
|
|
Supplier
|
Runaware.
www.runaware.com or Tel:
+1-800-430-3231 US or +46 (0)8 463 1177 Europe |
Table of
Contents
Top
Intro:
Comparing Traditional Software Evaluations with the Runaware approach
Who
remembers when the majority of PC software applications used to arrive
on a single floppy disk with a slim manual accompanying them?
Installations
consisted of inserting the floppy in the drive, typing a:install or similar and two minutes later the installation was
complete. Often the application itself was so simple that, within the
hour you had completed the evaluation and could make a decision on
whether to purchase it or not. Of course, you still had the problem of,
firstly guaranteeing that your chosen software supplier had an
evaluation copy of the application available and, secondly, then waiting
for it to be delivered. But life, in general, was pretty simple. Apple
Macintosh users would argue that it was even simpler than the scenario
we’ve described!
But
nothing lasts forever. As the computers themselves became more powerful,
so the applications started to get bigger and more complex. Still on
floppy disks, now the nightmares really began. Installations required so
many floppy disk changes you not only spent often hours carrying out an
installation but got severe aching arms in the process! And all for the
sake of simply evaluating a piece of software you were not necessarily
guaranteed to buy at the end of all that effort. And then it had to be
taken off the PC again. The advent of the CD thankfully resolved the
capacity problems of the floppy disk, often replacing the need for
several of the latter with just one of the former.
However,
still there was the issue of ordering the evaluation CD, awaiting its
arrival, then carrying out the installation (and de-installation) and
hoping there wouldn’t be any problems along the way. Even then, often
the most you could hope to receive was a cut-down demo version of the
software that did not provide you with a realistic means of appraising
the product. Try to short-cut the process by purchasing a computer
magazine with a CD attached and you were not only limited by what
applications the magazine (typically based on the source of advertising
revenue) had chosen to include, but you were absolutely restricted to
demo versions or pure shareware.
Then
along came the Internet and, with it, the option to download
applications – again often in cut-down, demo format, but sometimes in
fully featured format with an encoded time limit – for evaluation,
from that vendors website. This approach is all well and good if you
have high-bandwidth access to the Internet, so a 20-30 megabyte download
becomes a feasible operation, rather than something likely to take
several hours. If it ever completes successfully, that is…
But
for those with a 56K modem link, or even a 64K ISDN connection, such
downloads are often prohibitively time consuming, especially when you do
encounter problems and have to restart the whole download process, but
then none of us have ever suffered that, have we! Moreover, again the
problem exists where this process has to be repeated every time you want
to evaluate a product. Where you only really want to take a quick look
at a number of competing products, this option really doesn’t add up.
Few people have the time, let alone the patience, required to spend the
best part of a day downloading a number of products for evaluation.
So
while the Internet has made it easier to evaluate software than before,
the situation is still considerably less than ideal. What then, is the
alternative? Here we’re looking at a new concept in software
evaluating, being offered by Runaware: online evaluations, using the
Internet as the access technology to a wide range of applications.
Top
Runaware:
From The User Viewpoint – Online Evaluations For Free
In
an era where everyone seems to constantly bemoan a lack of time, any
product or service that saves some of that valuable commodity has to be
good news.
When
it comes to evaluating new software products, often that lack of
available time means evaluations are necessarily put on a back burner.
This is clearly not good news for either the user seeking new and
improved applications, nor the software developer in search of new
customers, though the accountants may well be happy with the situation.
So imagine instead, if the whole evaluation process was made into an
instantaneous, online service. Suddenly evaluating software becomes
something you can do during a lunch-break, or for 10-15 minutes at the
end of each working day, for example.
Such
is the idea behind Runaware – best described as an Internet-based
online service for evaluating software applications on the fly. Runaware
describes itself very specifically as an Evaluation Service Provider –
we’ll forgive it the ESP joke - as opposed to an Application Service
Provider (ASP). The difference is both subtle and very significant.
Obviously, in order to provide the evaluation service in the first place
it has to host the applications, but these are hosted on behalf of the
Independent Software Vendor (ISV), not the consumer, as is the case with
ASPs. An ASP exists primarily to host an end-user company’s
applications on their behalf, which is a very different service to what
Runaware offers.
Top
|
Runaware:
In The Business Of Software Evaluation Not Reselling
Runaware
is a privately held company based in Stockholm, Sweden. In 1999,
Swedish entrepreneur and Runaware founder Pelle Axeland envisioned
an electronic marketplace designed with the needs and problems of
both software consumers and Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) in
mind. The result was the service we’re evaluating here.
Runaware went live in May 2000. Software evaluations are
available twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week and are free
of charge.
An
important point to make here is that Runaware is not a software
reseller. You cannot purchase the software you evaluate directly
from the company. However, every application Runaware hosts for
evaluation has hyperlinks directly to related web-sites, often the
vendors own, where you can acquire the software online. As such,
it is the closest you can get to a one-stop shop approach while
still remaining independent.
|
The
key benefits of the Runaware service then, from the user viewpoint, are
ease of evaluation and time saved compared with using traditional methods.
No longer need you spend what may be hours downloading a demo version of
an application from the Internet, or sending off for a demo CD then taking
the time to install it when it finally arrives. Instead you simply go
online to the Runaware web site and immediately start to evaluate a
full-blown version of an application there and then.
Better
still, rather than having to go through that same tedious ritual every
time you want to evaluate a different product, imagine being able to look
at dozens of applications online in one session, without any kind of
overhead. This is exactly what Runaware promises you can do. And it’s
free of charge for evaluators. So does it sound too good to be true? Well
maybe – so here we’re putting the system to the test to find out if
Runaware really can deliver what sounds like the perfect online software
evaluation service.
There
are, unsurprisingly, some limits with Runaware. While it is an online
service that allows you to truly evaluate the full versions of software
applications, a handful of functions are disabled. For example, print and
save functions are not available and you cannot upload files to Runaware
based applications. Nor is the selection of applications currently
available anything other than a snapshot of the millions of software
products available worldwide, though – that said - it is both relatively
comprehensive and wide-ranging.
Runaware’s
long-term aim is that the software available for evaluation will also
correspond to the needs of our users as those needs evolve, so users can
actively help to direct the future shape of the Runaware service. As an
individual uses the site, Runaware gathers information about users in a
similar manner to an eCommerce site such as Amazon.com in order to help a
user find the right software according to their demographics and needs. To
assist with the evaluation, the site also provides links to reviews,
feedback and other related information, so independent opinions of the
software are readily available to compare with your own.
Top
Naturally,
any benefits to the end user looking to evaluate software are benefits to
the ISV looking to sell its software to that user. In addition, however,
Runaware promises many ISV-specific benefits to its service, which we’ll
now run through.
Runaware
argues that a Runaware prospect referral is much more valuable than a
traditional sales lead. There is clearly some truth in this. For starters,
Runaware monitors the activity of the visitor on the site and documents
their interaction with the titles they test and evaluate, including the
amount of time spent with each application. The generated information
regarding an ISVs products is available to only that ISV on secure pages
on-line.
This
creates highly qualified sales prospect referrals that sales staff can use
to grow their business without heavy sales and marketing spending. For
example, if an ISV so wishes it can have Runaware automatically send it an
e-mail when there is a prospect waiting for a call.
By
definition, in creating an online source of evaluation software, Runaware
has effectively created a true virtual marketplace – a kind of online
exhibition. The company
argues that its approach allows an ISV to eliminate both the costs of demo
distribution and the delays in getting a new product launch jump-started.
If Runaware hosts the applications on its site it means that prospects and
customers have instant access to the product for evaluation. In turn this
means instant access to prospects without the overhead of traditional
marketing programs.
The
company does more than install and maintain ISV applications on a secure
website – in itself a valuable service – but hosts these applications
together with evaluation resources such as product information, white
papers and tutorials, as well as hyperlinks directly to the ISVs
web-site.
Figure
1 – ISV Hyperlinked From The Runaware Site
In
addition to the generic benefits for ISVs, Runaware also offers a number
of optional services, which we’ll now outline.
Top
Runaware
describes this as a process that automatically generates and qualifies
sales leads and makes them instantly available to an ISV. So how does this
work exactly? Well, in order to use Runaware, each visitor must register,
providing a standard set of data including their name, e-mail address and
country, as well as - when applicable – company name, size, job title
and contact details. This “prospect profile” then goes into a
database, private to that ISV, every time that ISVs software is
tested.
The
IQP then measures each user’s level of interest as a result of the
evaluation. It sorts information by user, session and application,
including testing date & time, length of session, product information
or user resources accessed, answers to on-line questions, surveys and
polls, user comments and reviews, the user’s operating system, browser
type & version. The IQP also allows an ISV to set criteria for
qualifying what it regards as a “hot” prospect. Using these criteria,
IQP sorts through responses and identifies interested users.
Top
Companies
who offer widely used software platforms may choose to sponsor a
“Pavilion” at the Virtual Marketplace so that all of their independent
developer partners may exhibit their own applications. This environment
carries the umbrella brand of the sponsor and provides high levels of
exposure to the key development partners as well as the sponsor.
In
other words, it is the absolute online equivalent of sponsoring a pavilion
at a computer exhibition with the same potential benefits. Visitors to
Runaware find the pavilion prominently featured on its home page. A click
on the logo will take them to the pavilion, which will feature virtual
booths representing every ISV that has responded to the invitation to
showcase its product.
The
pavilion is designed, not only to increase partner sales, but to produce
valuable qualified leads and market intelligence. User registration means
that each time a potential customer tests a product, their profile and
area of interest is entered in a database accessible only by that pavilion
sponsor or their partners. In addition, discussion forums allow users to
talk with each other and provide invaluable market feedback.
In
order to make it easy for partners to join the pavilion, Runaware includes
a webpage, accessible from the vendor web site containing all the tools
and information necessary for ISVs to join the program. The vendor decides
on the content and what ISV partners it wants to include. Both partner
booths and the pavilion will be standardised with a consistent look and
feel in line with the branding. Runaware also works out a mutual
co-marketing plan in an attempt to generate maximum publicity and consumer
interest.
Top
Designed
effectively a means of enabling publishers and developers to meet with
prospects online, 24 hours a day, Runaware’s Virtual Showroom - designed
to an ISVs own specifications - allows an ISV to offer the same
convenience and software interaction as Runaware's “Virtual
Marketplace” on its own website.
It
means an ISV can offer online testing and evaluation of all its software
products in a private, secure online showroom powered by Runaware. The
company claims this effectively and significantly upgrade web marketing
efforts while lowering costs associated with offline product evaluation.
It means that customers, channel partners, the sales force and any other
relevant parties can access the showroom anywhere, anytime, so long as
they have Internet access. It helps support a channel strategy by
directing orders to an ISV or its reseller of choice, preserving control
of purchase fulfilment. It could also arguably dramatically reduce
time-to-market by allowing an ISV to publish the latest versions of its
software during an early stage of production, or in some instances at a
pre-production point.
Top
Given
the still far from perfect performance of the Internet, any attempt at
providing an Internet-based, online software evaluation service clearly
cannot be attempted lightly.
If
the service is to sustain the interest of the user it must be sufficiently
fast and reliable, as well as easy to use. With these requirements in
mind, the Runaware team has developed a website that, while based on
standard components, has been put together with special techniques for
user handling and session handling, aimed at delivering the quality of
services an ESP must provide. When developing the Runaware website, the
focus was set on scalability, availability and speed. The basic premise
was that downtime simply cannot be accepted since the site is globally
accessed. At the same time, it should be possible to upgrade the site
while it is up and running to ensure that regular updates can take please
to maintain regular users’ interest. The site architecture has also been
designed to supports several thousand concurrent software testers.
The
starting point was with the hardware – based on Compaq servers with full
failover capabilities. The front-end of the website consists of a special
designed cluster solution that keeps track of users, statistics and web
content. It also consists of a web enabling cluster solution that transfer
the traffic from the software application being tested to the user
browser.
Figure
2 – The Runaware Architecture From User To Application
At
the heart of the system is Galactica, a ''web-engine'' that sits 'between
the web-server and the database. It covers many functions from
site-administration to run-time security. By using Galactica, the
development team can produce new functions and services for the Runaware
website with a minimum of effort. Galactica is developed by Cross
Communication and is currently used for large, information-intense
websites as well as commercial websites.
The
other key-component is Tarantella from SCO. It transfers the session-ata
(software applications) directly from the application servers, for example
CorelDraw, to the Java-applet in the user's browser, the PC acting as a
“thin client”.
The
back-end consists of a number of application servers. These can be of
different hardware platforms and operating systems. (NB - MacOS is
currently not supported) This opens up the possibility to compare the same
application on different platforms. For example, a Linux-version could
easily be compared to the NT-version of the same software with the user
deciding, online, which is the better implementation.
Overall,
the Runaware site appears to have been designed with longevity and
scalability in mind, which could be crucial to its long-term chances of
success.
Top
The
starting point for experiencing the Runaware site is straightforward
enough – entering a URL of http://www.runaware.com
into your browser. Runaware supports both Internet Explorer 4 or 5+
(recommended) and Netscape Navigator 4+.
Figure
3 – The Initial Runaware Home Screen
The
home screen appears with a bright yellow button labelled join
now! Clicking on this takes
you to the registration process. This consists of a screen requesting
basic information about you and your business – only some of which is
mandatory, such as username and password – not unlike the registration
process for any other online Internet service or free software download.
Any errors you make are flagged so you can easily identify and correct
them – for example, if the username you chose already exists, or if
there are problems with the chosen password.
Figure
4 – The Runaware Registration Screen
Once
complete, clicking on a button at the bottom of the page marked REGISTER
completes the process. At this point you are returned to the home screen
as a registered user with a welcome message and the complete functionality
of Runaware now available. Future visits to the web-site from the same PC
will be met with this customised screen so any changes you make to the
personal Runaware configuration (see My
Data description later) will be reflected automatically. Otherwise you
will need to login with your member username and password, at which point
your personal settings will be loaded.
Top
|
A
Word For Macintosh Users
Officially,
you cannot yet run Runaware on a Macintosh. This is due to a
"known bug" in Apple's Java engine. Apple's tech support
is working on it however; a new version will probably not be
available until MacOS X according to Apple sources. Meantime,
Runaware has found using Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0 with
Microsoft's Java Engine installed has proven successful. |
When
you register you have the option of subscribing to a free monthly
newsletter, Runawareness. This is delivered by email and contains news of
the company and new applications being hosted, complete with the
respective URL. To evaluate the new application you simply have to click
on the URL and your browser will load and navigate you directly to that
application on the Runaware site for testing. We found this to be a very
efficient way of discovering about, and evaluating, the new products as
they appear on the Runaware site and would therefore recommend that any
users subscribe to the newsletter when they register for the Runaware
service.
Top
The
Menu System
Once
registered, all the features of the Runaware site are available. While
these are primarily the applications available for evaluation, there are a
number of supporting features which we should highlight here. Another
important point to make at this point is that there are several ways to
navigate the site; to load up an application or discover more information
about a product, for example. What largely remains in place, regardless of
the feature you’re accessing, is the basic menu structure as illustrated
in Figure 3. The menu bar at the
top of the page has five basic options: Home,
About Runaware, FAQ, Demo Your Software and
Link to us. The Home and About Runaware
options are suitably obvious. Clicking on FAQ
– Frequent Asked Questions - is a good starting point however, as it
takes you to a kind of Q&A session, aimed at answering most of your
basic questions about the Runaware service.
Figure
5 – The Runaware FAQ Screen
Clicking
on Demo Your Software takes you to the section of the site which is
primarily for ISVs – the Business
Pages – which we’ll describe in more detail shortly and has its
own “sub-menu” bar. The last option on the main menu bar, Link
to us, takes you to a page providing three ways of linking Runaware to
your own web site.
Figure
6 – The “Link to us” Screen
Here
you can choose to join the affiliate program which can earn you commission
for referrals which result in business for Runaware or its ISV customers,
or provide a simple banner link between your web site and Runaware.com. In
both cases a range of link button options are available to download. A
third option for Runaware ISV customers is password protected and offers a
range of link buttons for ISV use.
Top
Typically,
then, this menu format remains in place throughout the Runaware
“experience”. However, clicking on Demo
your software brings up a new submenu – the Runaware Business
pages. While this section is intended primarily for ISVs (both
existing and potential customers), it is also a home for useful extra and
background information about Runaware, its services and its recent
business dealings – such as technical alliances with other industry
players – which many users may find of interest. For example, by
clicking on Runaware Services
you can find out more about the company, its services and the underlying
technology. For a list of Runaware’s current ISV customers and their
applications being hosted for evaluation, you just click on Customers
and Partners.
From
the resulting screen it is then possible to go directly to the evaluation
screen of any application by just clicking on its title in the customer
list. This is just one of several ways to access the evaluation screens
– the other ways we’ll cover shortly. Another unique part of the web
site only accessible from the Business Pages is the Press
center.
Figure
7– The Press Center Within Business Pages
Here
you can find a complete list of press releases, clippings from
publications and – if you are a member of the press – useful material
such as screenshots and board member photographs. To get back to the main
menu you have to click on the www.runaware.com
button as clicking on what is defined here as the Front page takes you
only to the home page of the Business
Pages section, which is a little confusing at first.
Top
My
Runaware
Back
at the “real” home page, there are a number of other options
available, in addition to those we’ve already described. At the top
right of the screen you’ll see three tabs labelled, My
Data, My Software and My History.
This is the area of the web-site that Runaware refers to as “My Runaware”
and is a customisable area for registered users that reflect the choices
you make and the software you evaluate. Briefly, each in turn can be
described as follows:
Top
Once
registered, the Runaware site makes use of your information to help guide
you through the Runaware system. The information you provided during the
registration process can be edited and appended at any time by clicking on
the My Data tab. Your password
can also be changed here. If you
want to delete your account at Runaware you do so here, at which point all
information about that account will be permanently deleted from the
Runaware site.
Top
My
Software
My Software is a list of your software favourites that you can build
up as you evaluate products on the Runaware site. Every time you evaluate
an application you are given the option to add it to My
Software. You are also given the option to grade the product on a 1-5
scale and add personal comments, such as making a note of specific feature
you liked or didn’t like, or had problems with.
Do
note these are private comments and are not made public. If you change
your opinion following a further evaluation you can edit the grade and
comments. From the list you can also quickly re-access the applications by
simply clicking on the software title.
Figure
8 – My Software List
Top
My
History
As
you use the Runaware site, a log of application evaluations is
automatically created, called My
History. In this way it differs from My
Software which is a personal list of software favourites. It shows
your own previously evaluated programs in chronological order, telling you
when you looked at the product. This is generated after each usage and
stored for any future login so that you remember the specific titles.
Clicking on a title takes you to the evaluation page for that piece of
software, so this is another potential short-cut to an evaluation session.
Top
At
all times during a session on the Runaware site you have the option of
selecting an application for evaluation or obtaining further information
on, by using the “Browse categories” box or the search function.
Figure
9 – Select Application By Browsing Categories
Thirteen
categories are listed in alphabetical order from Administrative
to Web Develop for Windows users
and four categories for Linux users. At the top of the Browse Category box you can click on the specific tab for the
operating system of your choice – Windows or Linux – to narrow down
the category choice to those available for that specific operating system.
Then, clicking on any of these categories brings up a list of the
applications available within that category for evaluation. Clicking on a
title at that point then takes you to the relevant evaluation page for
that application.
Top
Yet
another way to select an application for evaluation is to look through the
tab lists at the bottom of the page – the RECENTLY ADDED or MOST
POPULAR lists. The former is self-explanatory while the latter
consists of that week’s most popular applications for evaluation among
Runaware users, with the previous week’s position in brackets, so you
can see the relative popularity of each product, week by week. Bear in
mind, however, that this is simply the number of users evaluating the
product and not a recommendation as to the quality of the product in its
own right. For this reason, you can add comments on any product via its
evaluation page (see Evaluating Applications section).
Top
A
completely different way of getting to know how to navigate around the
Runaware site comes with the interactive
demonstration option. Clicking on this box (Flash 4 is required on
your PC and can be downloaded at this point if necessary) loads the demo
program.
Figure
10 – Taking The Site Tour
Here
you have the option of watching a fully automated site
tour presentation, or selecting from a menu which aspect of the
Runaware site you want to learn more about, by clicking on the relevant
subject area.
Figure
11 – Using The Interactive Demonstration Menu Options
It’s
a sensible option to start with the tour and then work your way through
the menu-based information before evaluating any software. Not that the
site is complicated to use – it isn’t – but this way you’ll know
all of the options available up front, rather than finding them by
accident.
Top
Navigating
your way around the Runaware site is all well and good but it is the
software evaluations themselves that are key to the service. So just how
successfully can you test an application, online, over the Internet?
The
mechanics are very simple. Using any of the many ways to select an
application we’ve already described in the report, you choose the
software title you want to evaluate and are taken to the evaluation page
for that product.
Figure
12 – An Evaluation “Home” Page
At
this point you have a number of options, which can vary depending on the
product. To begin the evaluation you simply click on the RUN!
button but before you do this there are various options available for
getting background information on the product itself. For every product,
Runaware provides a brief summary of the product as well as a summary from
the vendors itself. In addition, depending on the product itself there may
be hyperlinks to third party (IT press, for example) reviews and other
background information such as white papers or even tutorials. These are
all clearly marked under the Evaluation
Resources/Other Information and What
others say… sections of the page. You can also add your own comments
under the What you say… section. We found that most of the products we
evaluated had extensive links to other web sites for both independent
reviews and background information, so it is possible to be well clued up
on the software before you actually get around to using it.
Once
you are ready for the evaluation itself, clicking on the RUN! button opens
up a new window with the selected application. As we mentioned earlier, no
actual product installation takes place at this point, but the first time
you use Runaware a Java applet is downloaded. This applet is approximately
1MB in size and will therefore require some downloading time from a modem
connection. With our 54Kbps ISDN line, it took around two minutes to
download. The important point to make here is that while this requires a
small degree of patience first time around, once this applet has been
installed on your computer, the operation will not need to be
repeated.
Figure
13 – Downloading The Java Applet On The First Runaware Session
Figure
14 – Downloading The Tarantella Software On The First Runaware Session
A
minimal amount of user intervention is required at this point –
accepting and agreeing to install the applet, for example. But on
completing the Java applet download, the program you are evaluating loads
up automatically without any other user intervention. Thereafter, on
pressing RUN! to evaluate a
product it will load up immediately.
Top
Netscape and Java security issues?
Using
Netscape when launching a program generates two messages asking for your
permission to download the Java client. You need to press [Grant] on both
these messages. Also check the [Remember this decision] box if you do not
want to see these messages the next time you use Runaware. Please
note: the owner of the security certificate is not Runaware but Santa Cruz
Operations, Inc (SCO) since the client-software is a licensed product from
SCO.
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To
end an evaluation you simply close the window it is running in. At this
point you are requested to answer some simple questions concerning the
software you have just evaluated.
Figure
15 – Post-Evaluation Screens
First
you are asked whether you found the software of interest or not? If the
answer was “yes” a second window pops up giving you four options.
These are:
-
To
buy the software (by then routing you to the ISVs own site or to a
relevant reseller on the Internet).
-
Whether
you would like further information on the product.
-
Whether
you are planning to buy the product but do not want to do so
immediately.
-
Simply
to close the window and return to the Runaware site.
At
this point the evaluation session ends but you can still choose to add
your own comments about the product or add it to your My
Software list before choosing another product to evaluate or leaving
the Runaware site.
Top
During
the Runaware review period we ran through about a dozen evaluations,
covering many different kinds of product such as graphics programs,
network monitors, language translators and project management. Our PC
clients used for the testing were both HP Vectra VL 400Mhz Pentium IIs
with 128MB RAM, one running Windows 98 Second Edition and the second
running Windows 2000 with IE5.5 as the browser. As mentioned earlier, our
Internet access was via a 64Kbps ISDN connection. We made a point of
accessing the Runaware site at many different times of day and night,
including week-days and weekends, so any performance issues resulting from
the Internet being congested could be both experienced and taken into
account.
Not
surprisingly, performance did vary depending on when the session took
place, but only once did we find the site too slow to be realistically
usable. At best it was still a little like running a Windows application
locally but where an extra few megabytes of RAM wouldn’t go amiss! In
practice, this translates into a highly usable site for most of the
applications we tried, at least for relatively short evaluation periods
(10-20 minutes), though the heavier the graphics element of the evaluation
product, the more patience was required. During most of the evaluation
periods we experienced no problems, but we did encounter some errors –
typically where the software refused to load a dummy data file locally for
example (bearing in mind that you cannot upload any files from your PC)
– on three occasions which Runaware is currently looking into. Of
course, one problem with this test environment is that an error could
equally be due to the ISVs own software being “buggy” which Runaware
cannot reasonably take responsibility for!
Top
Potential Issues with Firewalls and Proxy Servers
If
you try an application, click RUN!
and nothing happens it could be because your company or ISP is using a
firewall or proxy. You may need to contact your Firewall administrator to
possibly open Port 443 or if you use a proxy server the web proxy (8080)
and SOCKS proxy (1080) ports should also be available.
What
we did like is that, barring the print, file save/upload functions not
being available, this really is a complete online evaluation, even down to
online tutorials within the ISVs applications, for example.
Figure
16 – Example Of Online Tutorial Within ISV Application
This
is what makes the big difference between the Runaware service and online
demo’s where only a limited subset of the functionality is typically
available, at best. At worst, online demos are often little more than a
glorified PowerPoint presentation.
With
Runaware you get basically the complete application to evaluate, there and
then, with no download time apart from the first time you use the service.
This is particularly gratifying when you test multiple applications in the
one session. As such, in the course of a lunch hour, for example, you can
readily compare two or three applications against each other. It really
can potentially revolutionise the approach for software evaluations,
albeit early days yet.
Top
Runaware
claims to be the first independent, free software evaluation
“community”. Certainly, we know of no equivalent online evaluation
service which is not directly tied to a software vendor. And it really
does offer a lot more than any online demo can, naturally enough, given
that it is the fully blown application you are evaluating.
The hook-line Runaware uses is: “All you need is a 56K modem”. Well we
had the “luxury” of a 64K ISDN line during testing but performance was
– overall – better than we had expected, given the quirks of Internet
performance. The simplicity of the whole operation - no installing or
downloading other than on the first occasion, little in the way of system
requirements or compatibility issues to worry about – is very appealing
and means very little effort is required in order to use the Runaware
site. And it’s free!
Top
What
Runaware offers is a completely new outlet for getting software in front
of the masses. Those users who simply cannot or will not find the time to
go hunting around web sites or fill in forms to request software
evaluation packs can simply log onto the Runaware web site and test your
software with a minimum of effort or time expended. The same ease of use
concept applies to the ISV itself, with little or no effort required on
its part to help host the evaluation site, though in this case there is a
cost involved of course.
Beyond
the basic evaluation service, Runaware does seem to be trying hard to put
a complete portfolio of services together. So hosting the applications
remotely may only be the starting point of a far more comprehensive and
closer relationship between an ISV and Runaware. As an extension to
existing sales and marketing operations, then, the Runaware service must
be worth considering.
Top
As
Runaware itself states, the site can best be compared to a trade show,
except that it is permanently open and no travelling time is involved! At
Broadband-Testing, for years we’ve been expounding the potential merits
of the “virtual exhibition” and now Runaware has provided us with
it.
From
our time testing the site, it is clear that it is not yet perfect – some
errors did crop up – and the Internet is still a performance barrier in
its own right, but overall – whether end-user or ISV - we highly
recommend that you take a look at www.runaware.com
.
