Came across this article over at madpenguin.org. The author, Matt Hartley, argues that Web Apps will never be desktop replacements. After reading the article I think the most compelling arguments he provides are:
- In order to use a web based application you have to have an internet connection. Broadband outages mean you can’t be dependent on them. When your offline you can’t use them.
- There are privacy issues to think about. Your effectively handing your data to a third party and relying on the fact that they will not abuse it.
Firstly, I think never is a long time 😉
I am not sure if either would dissuade me from using web based applications instead of desktop ones. I already use Google’s web based applications and I think they are pretty good in terms of delivering my day to day needs. I suppose if I’m honest I’m hard pressed to think of what I do with a word processor or spreadsheet on a daily basis that I can’t do using these applications.
As for availability. I can’t remember the last time I suffered from an internet outage that prevented me from getting on line for any significant amount of time. I certainly can’t remember any time I’ve tried to use one of Google’s applications to find that it was down or unavailable, or one of 37Signals applications.
Speed of response as I see it is a big stumbling block for web based applications. I’ve not experienced many such issues using Google applications, but I know how much I get irritated when I’m sitting there waiting for a page to load in BaseCamp for example. However, any organisation, worth its salt, that is serious about providing software as a service over the web has to consider the responsiveness of its software as a key metric in gauging the applications success, because users using it will.
Data security is a bit a funny topic, if you consider the prevelance of behaviour logging spyware on most computers , I’m not convinced the average persons data would be more secure on their own PC, or even works machine. I suppose it feel comforting to think that your somehow responsible for your own data but Microsoft is Microsoft, spyware is spyware, rootkits are rootkits and hackers are hackers.
Realistically thought, it’s certainly going to be a while before people will actually bring themselves to trust third party company’s with their corporate data. Any form of outsourcing raises questions. Google is making some inroads with its Google Apps premium service – which basically allows companies to have their corporate email provided by Google, and use slightly richer versions of Google’s web based applications as opposed to Microsoft Office.
Ultimately, I do wonder though if the reality around the viability of this transition from desktop to web is less about the technical issues but more the commercial ones:
Web apps will slowly replace desktop apps so long as desktop apps fail to turn the same profit that web apps and subscription services can. To some extent we can figure in the level to which users acquiesce to the transfer but the fact simply is that there are larger entities than end users calling the shots on this one. It’s like pushing a bill through Congress: if at first they don’t succeed they’ll launch a campaign to poll the public for the conflicting arguments, they’ll pay enough lip service to make people think that the issues have been resolved, and then they’ll resubmit next year. If the major business partners on Wall Street decide that they’re making more money from companies which offer web based applications then, slowly but surely, venture capital will be steered away from desktop application vendors and to world wide web application providers. We, the end users, have no control over this.