There’s an excellent article, as always, on coding horror, about the Desktop Application versus the Web Application.
From coding horror:
I tested it myself, and she’s right. It takes about 9 seconds to launch Streets and Trips 2007 on my (very fast) desktop PC, compared to about 3 seconds to load maps.google.com in the browser. It’s a mixed-up, topsy-turvy world we live in when web mapping applications are now faster and more convenient to use than their desktop equivalents. But it’s a fact.
I think this is definitely one piece of the pie of why Web Applications are starting to take over the Desktop; watch out it will continue. I think the biggest reason why I use a web application over a desktop application is portability. I’m on a number of different systems during the day and it would be unrealistic to have to install the same application on every system that I use.
Another piece of the pie would be VIDEO. Yes, VIDEO, in the form bandwidth it is increasing more and more everyday. Okay, not everyday, but rapidly, more and more people are switching to broadband. People are getting DSL, cable and these big companies are putting money into access speeds, which is making these web application feasible to implement to mass amounts of people.
Probably the third piece would be that browsers like Firefox, IE(yuck), safari, Opera, etc etc have advanced to a point where they can rival the Desktop. Also being connected to the Internet, people can get the most up-to-date information for applications like a Mapping Service or what not.
I don’t see the Desktop Application going away, but it will definitely incorporate aspects of what Web Applications are doing today.
And what about [http://gears.google.com] Google Gears
Sorry this post didn’t have much to do with Video, but I had this stuck in my head
Video killed the video star Desktop Application…
