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> Webapps can never be as powerful as a desktop application You're confusing technology with user interface. The primary difference between web apps and deskto
by seldo 17y ago
> Webapps can never be as powerful as a desktop application
You're confusing technology with user interface. The primary difference between web apps and desktop apps in the future will be the idioms they use in their user interfaces.
Offline storage and various other HTML 5 APIs mean that there will be nothing a web app can do that a desktop app can't. Web apps might never be as efficient as a desktop app -- compiled versus interpreted languages being what they are -- but efficiency is much less of a concern these days. Web apps are often quicker to write, update and iterate upon, so for any given new application, the web version may have a structural advantage over the desktop app.
- nudded 17y agogood point. But say you have a photoshop webapp (with all the features the desktop version has). When you want to apply several filters, you are depending on the capabilities of the server and also on the current stressload of the servers. Things might take a long time to complete or cost too much. With a desktop app, you're in control of your own machine.
- StrawberryFrog 17y agogood point. But say you have a photoshop webapp (with all the features the desktop version has). When you want to apply several filters, you are depending on the capabilities of the server and also on the current stressload of the servers. Why? You can push pixels with flash and JavaScript right in the browser. I'm not saying that doing it is right (neither is the article), but you can do it.
- megaman821 17y agoNo with a Photoshop-like web app the server is simply sending javascript to your computer where it runs in your browser. There may be some interesting things like identifying the location of your picture that happen server-side, but things like filter will usually run client side.