Abstract: A system and method that provides for presenting a dynamically configurable graphical user environment. The invention as embodied defines both an interface, and an interface engine. The look, layout and to some extent the behavior of a graphical desktop produced with the invention is defined by a configuration file called a “skin”. The skin is passed by an interface engine at runtime, which is communication with a library of graphical elements, produces the visual display. This methodology allows changes to the desktop to be made quickly without any changes to the interface engine itself. Thus, the system is highly customizable and may be adapted for particular users or environments.

Abstract: A software application system and method for facilitating the communication in a distributed computer environment among different processes active on the same or different computing platforms. In an embodiment of the invention, a server process running on a first computer system communicates with an application process running on the same computer via an application agent. The agent is designed specifically to work with a particular application, and translates or otherwise relays requests from the server process to the application process, and vice versa. The method is advantageous in that changes to the application process may be compensated for by updating the application agent only—no changes are required at the server process level. This allows rapid deployment of new or updated application throughout the enterprise.