I think you are on to something... with one caveat: Browsers SUCK for
keyboard accelerators! It's darn right impossible to build enterprise
apps that's optimized for data processing that runs across any browser
and/or language. So I would say, for your vision to hold true, we have
to fix that part. It's scary how little focus that topic has
considering the implication, but I guess it's just not a very sexy
feature.

On Nov 4, 5:19 pm, Ricky Clarkson <[email protected]> wrote:
> The thread about server-side frameworks leads me to wonder; will the
> current spate of evolution of web development ultimately bring us back
> to desktop development, albeit with some changes?
>
> Clay observed that the focus is switching from server-side frameworks
> to client-side frameworks.  Google Gears (which I realise is going to
> be replaced by Web Storage) gave applications the ability to store
> data locally.  JavaScript has been beefed up in terms of performance
> to presumably be competitive with conventional desktop languages.
> I'll imagine a couple of steps that could follow this:
>
> 1.  Browsers start to allow other languages than JavaScript to run
> code in web pages, in response to (my imagined) demand from businesses
> to allow such code to be distributed as binary.
>
> 2.  Browsers add yet more features that are traditionally the domain
> of desktop apps, e.g., drag and drop between web pages or from native
> file managers to web pages, clipboard access, CD/DVD/Blu-Ray burning,
> printing, access to areas of the hard drive, managing their own window
> positions and sizes.
>
> 3.  The browser disappears into the OS (see Google Chrome OS), such
> that there is no visible difference between running a desktop app and
> a web app; the only real difference is that the desktop app can write
> to anywhere the user can and requires installation but the web app can
> only write to its own storage area or anywhere the user explicitly
> gives it access to.
>
> 4.  OSs allow desktop apps to sandbox themselves like web apps are,
> and allow silent installation (java-web-start style) and update of
> desktop apps that declare themselves 'sandboxable'.
>
> 5.  Nobody gives a monkey's whether your app is a desktop or a web app
> anymore, the difference is the toolkits you use to create the app
> rather than what it can do.
>
> What do you think?

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