The web is very good for some things - its primary role is that of a giant online encyplopedia that is constantly updated and transformed. It enables digital co

The web is very good for some things - its primary role is that of a giant online encyplopedia that is constantly updated and transformed. It enables digital collaboration. This is in fact very close to Vannevar Bush's idea of the memex. But we are trying too hard to make it good at something that we already have a good solution for. People forget how much software runs natively, from medical devices, to airplane and missile control, to celestial navigation and radio astronomy. Theres no good reason to webify many of these areas. Ultimately its not the web vs native. The web is a way for me to write better native software, through the practice of digital collaboration. It makes possible a new way of thinking.