How I tested

I initially installed a pre-release version of Laszlo Presentation Server 1.0 and later upgraded to the final Enterprise Edition release. 

Installation was first completed using the included Jakarta Tomcat servlet engine, through which Laszlo’s scripted installation routine performed flawlessly. I later performed a second install using IBM WebSphere, which required some minor tweaking to facilitate WebSphere’s handling of Laszlo’s application directories.

When building Laszlo’s proprietary LZX applications, I was disappointed to find a number of glitches in several Windows-like UI components that made it difficult to place and view interface elements. Several times, the tool also proved sluggish when handling and wrapping text, but generally the performance was acceptable.

Laszlo was adept at effecting application changes, as it recompiles applications on the fly in response to queries. This constant recompilation comes at a price, however. I found performance slightly sluggish even under light load and even when the SWF data to be streamed already existed in the server’s cache.

Finally, application debugging was accomplished using API extensions that could ultimately prove cumbersome and inhibitive to large-scale project development.