3 ms·

The only way I see native making a comeback is if this Net Neutrality issue gets in the way. Even in 'native' software, the web is becoming increasingly presen

The only way I see native making a comeback is if this Net Neutrality issue gets in the way. Even in 'native' software, the web is becoming increasingly present.

jbigelow76 12y ago
Web apps became attractive for three reasons: 1. No deployment/client maintenance cost. The browser was already on every PC by the end of the 90s. 2. Connectivity. Web apps became the new thin clients with most UI coming from server side rendering and as well as data coming from the same servers. 3. Ubiquitous UI. Without getting cynical HTML/CSS is more or less the same on all browsers. Native apps mitigate the first two advantages and cast the third point as extremely suspect or at least irrelevant. 1. Apple introduced the Mac App Store and wrote brick and mortar software retailers like Best Buy out the equation. Microsoft is scrambling to keep up by moving things that were traditionally licensed via complex enterprise bundles into a la carte offerings like Office 365. 2. Connectivity. As somebody that considers themselves a web dev I really want to see a Net Neutral web win. But with almost all relevant web app activity being powered on the back end by a JSON/XML API the UI is no longer tightly coupled to server side HTML. Which brings us to point 3, the ubiquitous HTML UI... Decision makers don't care If you are a consumer or executive type you want your apps to look like all your other iOS apps. If you are a call center employee working on a web app you have no input into the app you work with anyway. Us web developers aren't doing HTML/CSS any favors by adopting frameworks that attempt to blur the lines between web and native apps like Angular, Ember, or Ionic. Disclaimer: I would prefer perrylaj is right and I am wrong. I just don't think that will be the case.

3 ms·

The only way I see native making a comeback is if this Net Neutrality issue gets in the way. Even in 'native' software, the web is becoming increasingly presen

by perrylaj 12y ago

The only way I see native making a comeback is if this Net Neutrality issue gets in the way. Even in 'native' software, the web is becoming increasingly present.

jbigelow76 12y ago
Web apps became attractive for three reasons: 1. No deployment/client maintenance cost. The browser was already on every PC by the end of the 90s. 2. Connectivity. Web apps became the new thin clients with most UI coming from server side rendering and as well as data coming from the same servers. 3. Ubiquitous UI. Without getting cynical HTML/CSS is more or less the same on all browsers. Native apps mitigate the first two advantages and cast the third point as extremely suspect or at least irrelevant. 1. Apple introduced the Mac App Store and wrote brick and mortar software retailers like Best Buy out the equation. Microsoft is scrambling to keep up by moving things that were traditionally licensed via complex enterprise bundles into a la carte offerings like Office 365. 2. Connectivity. As somebody that considers themselves a web dev I really want to see a Net Neutral web win. But with almost all relevant web app activity being powered on the back end by a JSON/XML API the UI is no longer tightly coupled to server side HTML. Which brings us to point 3, the ubiquitous HTML UI... Decision makers don't care If you are a consumer or executive type you want your apps to look like all your other iOS apps. If you are a call center employee working on a web app you have no input into the app you work with anyway. Us web developers aren't doing HTML/CSS any favors by adopting frameworks that attempt to blur the lines between web and native apps like Angular, Ember, or Ionic. Disclaimer: I would prefer perrylaj is right and I am wrong. I just don't think that will be the case.