Is there any reason for desktop apps anymore?

http://whydoeseverythingsuck.com/2008/09/is-there-any-reason-for-desktop-apps.html

by whalliburton • 18 years ago

8 16 18 years ago

bestes• 18 years ago

Physical devices is one reason. Doing firmware updates is impossible with a web app. It might seem like a small thing, but look at how well Apple is using iTunes and QuickTime to create a beechhead in Windows. (QT needs graphic card and audio access, iTunes needs USB access)

chaostheory• 18 years ago

needing 10 million different logins... OpenID adoption is still slow.

Until the Facebooks and MySpaces get everyone used to using apps and not just dinky games, this will still be a big problem.

axod3• 18 years ago

You use 10 million different desktop apps?

eru• 18 years ago

Actually, 20 million.

unalone3• 18 years ago

Why is it that everything I read in this blog pisses me off?

Yes. Of course there is. We aren't nearly at the point yet where the Internet works as quickly as hardware. We don't have a world with wonderful connections everywhere. Desktop apps are leagues faster in every regard. And I'd say we need a long time before that'll be fixed.

Plus, once you work inside a web browser, you don't just have the layer abstraction, you have a visual abstraction. Know what I like about Mail and Newsfire? The fact that they have ultraminimal interfaces for what they do. When I stick that inside Safari, I suddenly have something that's uglier than the original thing was. Even MobileMe suffers from that visually.

For somebody whose URL would imply a high level of criticism, which is always good, these posts always seem to advocate very sucky things.

axod3• 18 years ago

Quite a lot of people just run webapps in prism etc these days, so they pretty much look like desktop apps.

unalone3• 18 years ago

Nah, sorry. Not the came. The mere existence of a shell means you've got more interface than is actually necessary.

raganwald• 18 years ago

Why is it that everything I read in this blog pisses me off?

Uh, because you're human, and like the rest of us, you take incredibly trivial things far too personally? Seriously, if I asked you whether somewhere on this Earth we can find someone whose views are diametrically opposed to yours AND they express them in a manner you find obnoxious, I guess you would say that statistically, that person--call him "un-unalone"--is out there somewhere.

And no, you wouldn't get pissed off knowing that un-unalone exists and is being vehemently wrong every time he speaks. But if we conjure un-unalone up for you and you read what he's actually writing, you get angry.

I guess we'd all like to be perfectly Zen about this, and shrug our shoulders, but we aren't and we don't.

FWIW, I think Jeff Atwood is pretty-much the un-raganwald, right down to being waaaaaaaaaaay more likable than I am :-)

corentin• 18 years ago

> Imagine slightly faster computers, faster virtual machines, and the ability for web apps to, with appropriate permissions, access local resources like storage and notification services. Then imagine browser windows without all that browser chrome (buttons an such around the edges so the windows look like app windows).

Is there any reason for trucks anymore?

Imagine a car, but much more powerful, and with a big trailer attached to it.

snewe• 18 years ago

Yes.

praxis• 18 years ago

Unlike all the soft suburban dwelling people, some of us realize there is a real world where things go wrong, and being able to still use your computer for critical things can be a life saver. Just ask the military, even if you SIPRNET is down you still want to pull up imagery, print out maps and plan your mission to go kill the guys who made our power fail.

greyman• 18 years ago

I basically agree with the author, because:

1) as he says, with slightly faster computers, for more and more applications the speed will not be an issue. 2) Internet connection will be more common in the future (my prediction) 3) Even if you don't have Internet connection temporarily, you can work offline (google gears technology) and sync when you connect.

The advantages are: 1) Your data are online, so accessible from any computer without additional work. 2) The software itself is online, no need to install/maintain it.

TCL152• 18 years ago

You're kidding, right?

TCL152• 18 years ago

You're kidding, right?

Is there any reason for desktop apps anymore?

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