> > Software as a service feels like a move back to the 'dumb client' > model of mainframes. Even if it does take off en masse, I don't expect > it to replace traditional desktop apps. >
Naw dude, not at all. Connected or software as service doesn't have to mean bad terminal like software, though until recently I would agree that it did. The "software in browser" thing was the bane of my existence for the last 10 years. Browser based software rolled back the progress we had made in good user interface design in the 80's and 90's. Imagine being able to scroll your toolbar off the top of the screen, as is standard design in todays web pages. Just imagine if you had to *scroll* to get to the adobe illustrator tool bar because it was off screen. The browser took us back into the interface stone age for the last 10 years. Unfortunately, not withstanding this fact, many major apps started to appear in browsers using these bastardized user interfaces driven by the fact that we did not have tools like flex and AJAX and now AIR. Now most standard desktop apps are being re-architected around connectedness, whether it is from a desktop codebase or a web based code base. The reason this is happening (all the big software companies have either launched such products or have announced them) is because software is just better when it is connected. If you lament the notion or disagree with the idea that most desktop productivity apps will begin to be designed around internet awareness and/or collaboration we should revist this in another 18 months. You pick the place - looser buys the beer :) Hank
