4 ms·

> Often times I wonder why basically _everything_ must be on the Web Because for the great majority of users, i.e. those who thought that "the internet" lived

• krapp 3y ago
  I'm pretty sure the great majority of users nowadays have only ever interacted with the internet through apps on a tablet or phone. And even the dinosaurs who "logged on" when desktops and icons were a thing knew how to launch different apps on their computer for different purposes because that's how Windows worked, and people were using home computers before the web and web browsers even came along. The decision to appify the web was an economic one made not on behalf of the end user, but corporations. It's cheaper to write a website or a webapp than a native application, to distribute bits than burn a CD or cartridge. It's cheaper to publish in bits than ink and paper. It's cheaper to handle electronic forms than physical, mailed in forms. It's cheaper to send an email than call someone on the telephone.
• mtlmtlmtlmtl 3y ago
  Do you have any data to support your assertion that a "great majority"(whatever that means) of users in the present "have great difficulty handling the fact that they need to launch different apps on their computer for different purposes"? Because it seems wildly hyperbolic. We're not in the year 1995 anymore.
  • throwitaway1123 3y ago
    > Because it seems wildly hyperbolic. We're not in the year 1995 anymore. That's exactly what I was thinking. We're not in the 90s when people thought AOL and the internet were synonyms.
    • int_19h 3y ago
      Yeah; now they think that Chrome is...
      • throwitaway1123 3y ago
        I don't think people are ditching internet relay chat because they can't figure out how to run an app. But if I had to think of a modern equivalent of this joke, I would say now they think that Wi-Fi and the internet are synonyms.
        • daveloyall 3y ago
          PSA: there is an Android application named "Google" (sic) which is a browser, but it's not Chrome. This browser application stores every interaction (browsing history, etc) on the server-side. My mother-in-law uses it .. to buy sweaters from bloggers? She uses it for everything. And yes, she thinks the internet is just named Google. :(
          • throwitaway1123 3y ago
            Yikes, that's unfortunate. I have elderly family members with that level of technological literacy, and I've just accepted that they'll never end up on the Fediverse, or IRC (even if I point them to a webchat like Libera's in-browser Gamja and KiwiIRC clients).
• deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
• dubcanada 3y ago
  The great majority of people grew up with the internet at this point, and this is largely not true.