Convergence, again

Categories: uncategorized

Date: 08 September 2005 11:06:02

I've just had a really interesting conversation with a collegue about the future of the web and traditional desktop software. While he comes from a very different background to me - mainframe software, then server/client software with a team of 500 developers - he does see the value of the web, and in particular web applications. However, rather than web apps replacing traditional desktop apps, he sees more of a convergence of these technologies. That way we get the best of both world. For example, here are some thoughts that were batted between us:

However the really interesting bit for me is that when I showed him a really cool web app (built with loads of AJAX) he wasn't impressed. After all, desktop software has been doing that for years - it's only webheads like me who get impressed by this stuff. Many people, especially people who are used to powerful desktop software and are unaware of how cuttong-edge this type of stuff is for browsers, would shrug their shoulders and say "so what?".

Where a web app really sets itself apart from a desktop app is in a few key areas: presentation, speed of development, platform-independence and the fact it doesn't need a fast computer to run. Where it fails to deliver is in giving uninterrupted working when offline, really powerful processing of data (although arguably this could be handled by the web server), communication with the local client and that age-old problem of state.

But I reckon they are solvable, don't you? At any rate, it's going to be fun working all this lot out.

Update: Anil says it better than I could, and raises a few other ideas as well