If there was an "unlike" option, I'd click that. I see a market that AGS Explorer for Desktop served that (to me) is no longer covered under ESRI's current offerings. Thanks to the availability of the .NET SDK, there was an option for developing a GIS application that had no cost for licensing. Now, I know the dutiful ESRI employee will quickly point to AGOL/Javascript API and/or a EDN account options but for some situations, that's not a good option.
Speaking for myself, and as an individual not covered by an enterprise license agreement, I wanted to develop an application that the average public could use to be better informed about proposed projects on federal lands.I could kind of do this using the Javascript API (and I've started that to a degree) but I run into two issues- I must pay to serve up any associated datasets using AGOL since I don't have the resources for an AGS Server license *OR* I must roll the dice an assume that any data currently made available in AGOL will continue to exist. I've already been burned by option #2. Somewhat related, coding for browsers has limitations due to JS (and browser in general) security.
If I can bundle the data with my application for desktop use, it's always there. I don't have to worry about outages, slow internet, lack of internet, etc. Great! Develop a desktop app using an EDN account (which still costs money) and use the runtime SDKs! Well.......I'm doing this for philanthropic reasons. I can't afford to pay licensing fees, let along know how many licenses would be needed.
It's not that I'm developing some uber robust GIS application. To the contrary, it's a fairly basic application but I feel that the desktop Explorer + SDK might have been the best path for me to proceed with what I want to accomplish. I'm not the majority, I know, and ESRI has to maintain it's "positive growth". It's just......sad.
