Summary of the differences: Desktop vs Web versions of COSMOS

[stanislaw]

Hello,

First of all, thank you for creating this software.

We are evaluating COSMOS as an EGSE / TM/TC software for our project based on the NASA cFS. Looking at the documentation, there seem to be two versions of COSMOS: the desktop one and the web-based one. In the documentation, we could not find an explanation of why these two different versions exist. Here are several related questions:

1. We assume that the web version is the future and that we should rather base our evaluation efforts on the web version.

2. Looking at some previous videos about the desktop version, we are wondering why the decision to introduce the web version was made. Which are the driving factors and technical improvements in the web version?

3. Is there anything in the desktop version that is not in the web version yet? Something that could turn us to the desktop version instead of the web version?

Thank you in advance for taking time to answer these questions.

Stanislav

[ghost]

Hi Stanislav,

1. Yes, the web version (COSMOS 5) is the future. The first release will be very near term.

2. There are numerous reasons to switch to a web version. In fact, I had hoped to make the very first version of COSMOS 5 years ago a web app, but the technology wasn't really there at the time.

Advantages of Web Version:

1. Cloud Native - Easy to deploy to AWS, Azure, etc.
2. Install once on a server, rather than across multiple desktops
3. Uses all current maintained technologies. The desktop version is stuck at Ruby 2.5 and Qt4 which are no longer maintained.
4. This is the version we will primarily be developing going forward
5. Enterprise version coming soon which adds improved security, scalability, and metrics

Disadvantages of Web Version:

1. The web version does not have a TableManager tool (binary file editor), that I think it used with NASA cFS. This may get created at some point in the future, but is not in a near term roadmap.
2. Brand new with no patch releases yet (though a lot of internal code is reused, and fairly compatible with previous versions)

Thanks,
Ryan

[stanislaw]

Great answer. Thanks a lot!

[stanislaw]

This issue seems to be also related: #1171.

[stanislaw]

COSMOS v5.0.0 has been released. The release notes contain further useful information: COSMOS/releases/tag/v5.0.0.