{"id":1774,"date":"2009-09-11T11:07:23","date_gmt":"2009-09-11T10:07:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/1774-the-desktop-versus-web-application-debate.html"},"modified":"2009-09-11T11:07:23","modified_gmt":"2009-09-11T10:07:23","slug":"the-desktop-versus-web-application-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/1774-the-desktop-versus-web-application-debate.html","title":{"rendered":"The desktop versus web application debate"},"content":{"rendered":"

I posted a piece entitled Desktop applications are dead<\/a> which attracted the following comment:<\/p>\n

\n

Web apps have plenty of cons too. You seem to only be looking to the Pros.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

There\u2019s something in it; though the article is a little more nuanced than its title. There\u2019s also another debate to be had around the question of what a web application really is. If thousands of lines of JavaScript are executing on the client, is it a web app? If it is running in Flash or Silverlight is it a web app? If it is running out of browser (Adobe AIR, Silverlight, JavaFX) has it crossed the border to become a desktop app? This last case is particularly interesting, since although something like AIR should probably be categorised as desktop, its programming model is normally that of a web application with an offline cache.<\/p>\n

The semantic discussion can distract from the real issues. The ascendancy of web applications has a lot to teach software developers. The enforced simplicity, even crudeness, in the user interface of early web applications brought some surprising benefits: users generally liked the minimalist approach and ease of navigation. The page model, intended for documents, turns out to work for applications as well. <\/p>\n

Another big lesson: users value zero-install extremely highly. The routine of go to the web page \u2013 run the app is easy to understand. Some find it easier than finding an application shortcut in the Windows Start menu, and that is after the potentially painful business of running setup.<\/p>\n

Still, I am slipping into reiterating the advantages of web apps. What about their cons? What about the pros of desktop applications?<\/p>\n

I still use desktop applications a great deal: Microsoft Office, Live Writer, Foobar<\/a>, Visual Studio, Eclipse, all the things I listed in 10 Mac alternatives to Windows utilities<\/a>. Doesn\u2019t that prove that desktop applications are still important?<\/p>\n

It does; but there is an important qualification. None of these are line of business applications of the type which occupy so much of the time of corporate software developers and contractors.<\/p>\n

The real point: if there is a discussion about whether a particular project should be implemented as a desktop or web application, it is not the web application advocates who need to make their case. Rather, it is the desktop advocates who need to show the particular reasons (which may be good ones) why only a traditional local install will do.<\/p>\n

It is also important to follow the curve on the graph. The list of things that can only be done by desktop applications gets shorter with every upgrade to the web platform \u2013 whether you think of that as HTML\/AJAX, Adobe Flash, Microsoft Silverlight, or [insert your favourite web technology].<\/p>\n

Ten years ago, a web version of Photoshop seemed an unlikely prospect. Today, here it is<\/a>. Office and email is going the same way, even if it is not quite ready for all of us; Microsoft will have to accept that or lose its business.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t follow Rich Internet Applications with such interest because they are cool, but because they are the future of the client \u2013 and increasingly the present as well.<\/p>\n

Technorati Tags: adobe<\/a>,microsoft<\/a>,flash<\/a>,silverlight<\/a>,ria<\/a>,rich internet applications<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I posted a piece entitled Desktop applications are dead which attracted the following comment: Web apps have plenty of cons too. You seem to only be looking to the Pros. There\u2019s something in it; though the article is a little more nuanced than its title. There\u2019s also another debate to be had around the question … Continue reading The desktop versus web application debate<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,29,34,55,77,80,96],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adobe","category-eclipse","category-flash","category-microsoft","category-silverlight","category-software-development","category-web-authoring"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1774","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1774"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1774\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}