Just as DOS was the dominant PC operating system in the 1980's so Windows became the obvious choice in the 1990's.  Although Windows will remain a dominant force on the desktop for the foreseeable future, many believe the new millennium is the age of the Internet.

Residential property software can be clearly divided into such groups.  Over two thirds of all current solutions (20+) are Windows based and have their roots in the 1990's or even earlier. You can therefore expect them to be well tested and well known amongst the agent community.

Major names amongst this group are Vebra (Solex, Estate Craft, Encore & GMW), CFP, Reapit, Estate Agent Pro, CARL, Eurolink, Gemini, Propman, Rentman and a host of others including some packages used across organisations such as the Team Organisation.

The major advantage of Windows based systems is the richness of the user interface and the ease of programming with a wealth of different development tools. 

From an agent's point of view the software is held locally on the client's PC which can seem comforting but has disadvantages in that it is vulnerable from fire and theft and means the agent is faced with routine maintenance tasks such as taking backups and applying upgrades. Virus attacks on local machines can also result in a major system rebuild to restore operations.

Nevertheless, Windows based systems will probably still form the largest part of the market for some years to come until the current authors rewrite their systems to run on the Internet. This process has, in a sense, already started with the likes of the original GMW authors now offering a web based solution (ExpertAgent).

The main medium term threat to Windows based solutions is their difficulty accommodating the growing wave of "e-business" functionality that will surely sweep the property industry in the same way that it is currently affecting other business groups (banking, insurance, etc.).  The sophisticated electronic infrastructure underpinning the introduction of Home Information Packs is likely to accelerate this process.

However, expect to see these systems around for some while yet and for certain types of businesses (like start ups) they can offer an easy to accommodate and well tried solution.

(For information: Aspasia is not a Windows based system)

Client/Server Systems

Client/Server also has it's roots in the 1990's and simply means moving the data (and sometimes the software application) from a local PC to a server usually within the same office environment.  The local PC still does all the data processing but the data itself is fetched from the server and replaced when it has been processed.

The major advantage of client/server systems are that connected PC's can share the same live data usually limited to the same office environment although today it is possible to connect remote locations by means of a VPN (Virtual Private Network) across the Internet.

Unfortunately client/server is not as bandwidth efficient as native Internet technologies and this can lead to some slow systems.  A more efficient solution would be to utilise "leased lines" but the cost of such is often prohibitive except for very short distances.

Another advantage of client/server systems is that it can make the safeguarding of data and sometimes software upgrades much simpler. Although still vulnerable to fire and theft, well run client/server technology makes routine IT tasks easier to accomplish. 

(For information: Aspasia is not a Windows based client/server system)