I'm a bit late to this discussion but wanted to add that Microsoft started developing desktop apps that were web-like in appearance and behaviour back in 2000 (

I'm a bit late to this discussion but wanted to add that Microsoft started developing desktop apps that were web-like in appearance and behaviour back in 2000 (e.g, MS Money). Here we are in 2017 and we've returned to the same idea. Here are Microsoft's Inductive User Interface (IUI) Guidelines from 2001: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms997506.aspx https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms997506.aspx "The IUI is a new user interface model that suggests how to make software applications simpler by breaking features into screens or pages that are easy to explain and understand. Microsoft has implemented this model in Microsoft Money 2000"