This is a stupid debate at this point. For most applications the line has become darn near invisible at this point. Think about it. In the abstract, what rea

This is a stupid debate at this point. For most applications the line has become darn near invisible at this point. Think about it. In the abstract, what really is the difference between a desktop app running off a database and an Adobe AIR app running off a web service? A seamless install process on the web. A couple of extra APIs on the desktop perhaps. But overall they’re exactly the same. Moreover, the only reason for any difference at all is that the platform manufacturers haven’t caught up yet. There’s no reason, for example, that an AIR app couldn’t do everything a desktop app could (access hardware devices, run in the background, etc…). Adobe just hasn’t put it all in yet. So at this point Desktop apps are just a specialized programming environment for those rare situations (utilities, games, hardware centric programs) where web apps don’t work. Otherwise there’s not much difference. So developers should do what they've always done, evaluate their requirements and pick the tool that is best for the job.