Right after Web 2.0 Expo, I posted regarding Adobe Apollo and the ability of web applications to work online or off-line in ““Are you not connected?” There are some very good posts on this topic today as to whether web applications have finally one the battle for the desktop or is it simply a full more into a more hybrid app.
Nick Bradbury posts in agreement with Brent Simmons’ post “The end of “desktop vs. web apps” It is true that the ongoing debate has been taking place as to the web was going to take over the desktop or would desktop apps would win the world due to their supreme control the OS. It was only two years ago where you could find a proponent that Microsoft would still reign with their complete control of the desktop; you do not hear that often anymore. There really is a move to what Brent refers to as the “hybrid application”. And Brent goes even further in his post to point out some good examples on where the lines have ALREADY blurred quite a bit.
It is interesting that this is not the first time the concept of “hybrid” has been come up in a discussion for me this week. At the Search Engine 2007 meeting earlier this week, the topic of the “hybrid application” came up as a key discussion point instigated by Sue Feldman of IDC. However, in that context, it was around hybrid applications that do both search and other value engineered capabilities that solve the user’s problem to find things. But the premise still holds true, we no longer live in a world where an app is going to do one thing.
It is the “world of hybrid” (and we won’t even discuss hybrid vehicles) where web connections are made through web services, REST API transactions, hybrid online/offline applications and where search does more than what we know today. I know longer look at it as which paradigm wins, I’m more interested in watching/participating how the technology evolves and how we are all collectively smart to not try to be all things to all people with our applications. In that, I believe there is a lot of risk for companies moving forward who will try to do too much, will lose focus and miss the mark at being good at their core competency.
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