What I find is that managers keep wanting weblications to resemble VB-like GUI apps....
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Just don't use bound countrols in C/S tools and filter large search lists/grids at the server stage, not on the client, and you shouldn't have that many bandwidth problems.
I continue to be under the assumption that bound controls and filtering on the client are the essence of VB-like GUI apps. If this isn't the case for you, then what do "VB-like GUI apps" entail that's different from web apps? Comboboxes?