Methods, systems and computer program products for management of preferences in a heterogeneous computing environment

A method of establishing user preferences associated with an application resident on a first computer, the method comprising:

• determining an operating system of the first computer;
• providing a software routine corresponding to the determined operating system to the first computer;
• selecting user preferences based on the determined operating system;
• and
• installing the selected user preferences on the first computer using the obtained software routine.

A system for establishing user preferences associated with an application resident on a first computer based on preferences resident on a second computer remote from the first computer, comprising:

• means for receiving a request from a user of the first computer, wherein the received request is associated with a request for an instance of the application;
• means for obtaining from a computer other than the first computer, a software routine corresponding to the first computer;
• means for executing the software routine on the first computer;
• means for retrieving the user preferences associated with the application from the second computer;
• means for replacing native user preferences resident on the first computer and associated with the application with the retrieved user preferences;
• and
• means for launching an instance of the application on the first computer utilizing the retrieved user preferences.

A system for establishing user preferences associated with an application resident on a first computer, comprising:

• means for determining an operating system of the first computer;
• means for providing a software routine corresponding to the determined operating system to the first computer;
• means for selecting user preferences based on the determined operating system;
• and
• means for installing the selected user preferences on the first computer using the obtained software routine.

A computer program product for establishing user preferences associated with an application resident on a first computer based on preferences resident on a second computer remote from the first computer, comprising:

• a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code means embodied in said medium, said computer-readable program code means comprising:
• computer-readable program code means for receiving a request from a user of the first computer, wherein the received request is associated with a request for an instance of the application;
• computer-readable program code means for obtaining from a computer other than the first computer, a software routine corresponding to the first computer;
• computer-readable program code means for executing the software routine on the first computer;
• computer-readable program code means for retrieving the user preferences associated with the application from the second computer;
• computer-readable program code means for replacing native user preferences resident on the first computer and associated with the application with the retrieved user preferences;
• and
• computer-readable program code means for launching an instance of the application on the first computer utilizing the retrieved user preferences.

A computer program product for establishing user preferences associated with an application resident on a first computer, comprising:

• a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code means embodied in said medium, said computer-readable program code means comprising:
• computer-readable program code means for determining an operating system of the first computer;
• computer-readable program code means for providing a software routine corresponding to the determined operating system to the first computer;
• computer-readable program code means for selecting user preferences based on the determined operating system;
• and
• computer-readable program code means for installing the selected user preferences on the first computer using the obtained software routine.