The #1 complaint about InfoPath 2003 was that you had to have InfoPath installed on the client in order to fill out or even view a form. Although the product was built on things like XML, XSLT, and HTML, it simply wasn't design for browser rendering. Hence, many organizations didn't consider it a viable option given the resulting client deployment requirements.
The good news is 2007 changes all that.
With InfoPath 2007 you can design forms against a browser compatibility setting, which restricts the set of controls and features you're allowed to use, thereby making it compatible with the browser rendering engine supplied by Forms Server/Services. This allows you to design a form once while choosing to render it in multiple environments, such as the rich InfoPath 2007, various browsers (IE, Firefox, etc), or even mobile devices. The richer the rendering environment, the richer the feature set, but now reach is indeed possible.
Both SharePoint and Outlook 2007 have been enhanced quite a bit with some native InfoPath integration that makes the experience within those environments even more compelling.
Posted
Feb 06 2007, 01:55 PM
by
Aaron Skonnard