Occasionally connected, use a web front end.  Heads down user, use a windows
front end.  For a direct comparison, look at Outlook Express for this news
group compared to using the MSDN forum which is web based.

Hello cashdeskmac,

c> I am working on a very large distributed application which runs very
c> slowly.

Did u perform the profiling of your app to determinate the bottlenecks?

c> It has a web front end and a web services layer to communicate
c> between offices.
c> Is there an advantage of having a web front end over a windows UI?

It depends on you app: how rich UI is, client's environment, how much info
is transfered do u transfer to from client.

c> What are the arguments for and against each approach?

Could you provide what your app does?

---
WBR,  Michael  Nemtsev [.NET/C# MVP].  
My blog: http://spaces.live.com/laflour
Team blog: http://devkids.blogspot.com/

"The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we
miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it" (c) Michelangelo