InfoPath

I really liked the product and the concept. It is a 1.0 version so you should look at it as the beginning of something.

You can use InfoPath in two very different scenarios.

One scenario does not require IT involvement: power users could create their own forms, and use them as a better way to communicate inside the company. For example, instead of having free-form Word documents for expense reporting, they could define an InfoPath form, and that will make the management of the documents easier. The structure will be validated, they can be summarized, etc. There are no Web Services in this scenario. This 'just forms' approach could also be part of an IT project where the forms are part of a workflow defined by the IT department, etc.

The other scenario is the universal web service client. As Richard Tallent points out, the Web Services are not deployed in most companies, so this requires the IT department to embrace the Web Services idea and to use InfoPath as the client for their apps. It will be difficult for InfoPath to succeed in the short term for this kind of applications.

Deploying the InfoPath client will be an issue for any project that involves the IT department. IT won’t like it. It won’t be an issue if it’s pushed by power users inside the company, as if this happens is because it is already deployed.

I expect that someone could write a browser-based client for InfoPath forms, with less features and with a server side component (i.e. an ASP.NET page that performs the validations that the browser cannot). I also expect that MS will allow you to buy InfoPath without Office for a low price (ie $50-$80), but this won’t solve the deployment issue.

Don Box is right pointing that the need for a rich client is based on the fact that MS needs to sell Office, and the users are not finding good reasons to upgrade to the latest versions. InfoPath could be one.

On the other hand, I think the functionality that InfoPath provides as a Universal Web Services client could had been added to Internet Explorer. If it’s not there is because the browse war is over and there is no compelling reason for MS to further enhance IE.