Rethinking the Web

Digital Web Magazine writes:

1. Web applications only have one advantage over desktop applications: universal access and no need for a local installation.
2. Desktop applications have many advantages over Web applications, including: more powerful, faster, denser information displays; more robust interaction models; lusher presentation environments; easier natural integration into customized information and personal data collection
3. Given the ubiquity of connectivitythe ability to be online almost anywhere, at any time, on any digital devicethe one advantage the Web has is reduced to a software issue. A client-side application can leverage the interactive powers of the Web just as easily as a server-side application

Were very close to the tipping point. The boundary now is hardware. Once devices like flash memory (portable plug-and-play memory that fits in a wallet) have the capacity to hold software applications, the notion of Web applications will reach the point of imminent obsolescence.