3 ms·

You know, eventually the line between the desktop and the web is simply going to disappear. Web apps will cache more data on the user's hard-drive and run more

You know, eventually the line between the desktop and the web is simply going to disappear. Web apps will cache more data on the user's hard-drive and run more code on the user's CPU. Meanwhile, desktop apps will store/backup more data online and offload more computation to servers (or maybe other desktops). There's huge potential for libraries or tools that make developing half-desktop / half-web apps easier. Question is what form will those tools take. I wouldn't be too surprised if the OS just became a ginormous browser that could talk directly to hardware like the graphics card and a huge cache for storing "installed" web apps.

pg 19y ago
The real division is whether you have to install anything.
- DanielBMarkham 19y ago
  I wonder if it's that you have to install anything, or if it's just a "click cost" -- for every extra click you ask of the user, you lose potential customers? Kind of the same thing that we see in web sign-up forms where for every extra piece of information you ask, a huge number of potential users drop off.
  - nostrademons 19y ago
    Click + wait, probably. Java applets give you the ability to do nearly everything without installing software, but never caught on because the JVM takes so damn long to start. Flash has been somewhat more successful because it loads faster, and AJAX even moreso because there's virtually no up-front cost if you do it right.
- rokhayakebe 19y ago
  thank you
- stuki 19y ago
  Isn't it more a question of how much of your computer you are willing to expose without explicitly authorizing it? As long as webapps don't demand much, you let them bypass explicit installation. Even Gmail 'installs' something to run locally according to some broad interpretation of the term. The difference between that and signed oneClick type installs with auto update from a trusted source is pretty slim. I just can't help but think that for webapps to get fundamentally richer, they are going to need increasing access to client resources, such as the ability to communicate with each other across process boundaries. At that point, security concerns will probably dictate a somewhat more formal installation process for them as well.

pg 19y ago

The real division is whether you have to install anything.

DanielBMarkham 19y ago
I wonder if it's that you have to install anything, or if it's just a "click cost" -- for every extra click you ask of the user, you lose potential customers? Kind of the same thing that we see in web sign-up forms where for every extra piece of information you ask, a huge number of potential users drop off.
- nostrademons 19y ago
  Click + wait, probably. Java applets give you the ability to do nearly everything without installing software, but never caught on because the JVM takes so damn long to start. Flash has been somewhat more successful because it loads faster, and AJAX even moreso because there's virtually no up-front cost if you do it right.
rokhayakebe 19y ago
thank you
stuki 19y ago
Isn't it more a question of how much of your computer you are willing to expose without explicitly authorizing it? As long as webapps don't demand much, you let them bypass explicit installation. Even Gmail 'installs' something to run locally according to some broad interpretation of the term. The difference between that and signed oneClick type installs with auto update from a trusted source is pretty slim. I just can't help but think that for webapps to get fundamentally richer, they are going to need increasing access to client resources, such as the ability to communicate with each other across process boundaries. At that point, security concerns will probably dictate a somewhat more formal installation process for them as well.