Actually, the Mac app store could turn that trend on its head.
There are several main attractions of web apps over desktop apps:
* Easier to update/prototype/iterate/etc
* Cross-platform by nature unless you do something stupid
* Easier to charge (piracy is pretty much impossible)
The Mac App Store solves at least the last one. For quite a few developers, that may be enough to make the Mac market more appealing than the web market, which also has its share of disadvantages, such as the difficulty of creating a really great user experience, cross-browser issues, limitations of javascript and browser and the like, hosting costs, and so on.
Yes, there are advantages to native apps, and Apple has made sure to make them sexy and attractive.
But I don't want them to be sexy. I want the web to be sexy. And it can happen. The disadvantages of web development are shrinking quickly as javascript is getting incredible attention and browsers are converging on standards. And the web has the greatest benefit of all: no proprietary-ness, no walled gardens. I know that's overused, but it's very true.
And the web has the greatest benefit of all: no proprietary-ness, no walled gardens.
Web apps typically end up storing all your data on somebody else's system, and they can limit or revoke your access at any time. I don't see how that's less proprietary than local apps.
There's a difference between data and software. Free software important. Free data is important, too, but local/remote storage is a different issue than proprietary/cross-platform software.
Comments
Actually, the Mac app store could turn that trend on its head.
There are several main attractions of web apps over desktop apps:
* Easier to update/prototype/iterate/etc
* Cross-platform by nature unless you do something stupid
* Easier to charge (piracy is pretty much impossible)
The Mac App Store solves at least the last one. For quite a few developers, that may be enough to make the Mac market more appealing than the web market, which also has its share of disadvantages, such as the difficulty of creating a really great user experience, cross-browser issues, limitations of javascript and browser and the like, hosting costs, and so on.
Yes, there are advantages to native apps, and Apple has made sure to make them sexy and attractive.
But I don't want them to be sexy. I want the web to be sexy. And it can happen. The disadvantages of web development are shrinking quickly as javascript is getting incredible attention and browsers are converging on standards. And the web has the greatest benefit of all: no proprietary-ness, no walled gardens. I know that's overused, but it's very true.
And the web has the greatest benefit of all: no proprietary-ness, no walled gardens.
Web apps typically end up storing all your data on somebody else's system, and they can limit or revoke your access at any time. I don't see how that's less proprietary than local apps.
There's a difference between data and software. Free software important. Free data is important, too, but local/remote storage is a different issue than proprietary/cross-platform software.