Yesterday, Alfred Thompson posted an interesting article titled “Why Web Apps?” I read it via mobile and was just going to let it lie but it must have been percolating in the back of my mind because I went back to it when I got to a computer and replied to his post. It really had me thinking.
I think there would have been a time when I would have agreed wholeheartedly with him. There really is something comforting about having an application installed on your local device to do the things that you like/need to do. But then I thought about my own computer habits. I do enjoy programming in Visual Basic or C# but haven’t had any pressing projects for quite some time. For the most part, that machine seldom is even booted to Windows anymore except to update things. For the most part, it runs Ubuntu and I’ll be honest – 90% of the time, it’s running Firefox and that’s about it. My Macintosh computer runs Google Chrome and the FirstClass client. Updates that are needed happen with little fanfare as Firefox and Google Chrome are configured to silently update themselves so that I seldom have to think about it.
My iPad is another thing. As I write this post, there are 17 applications that require updating and I may set that to go while the dog and I check out the mailboxes up and down the road. My daily use on that device involves a bit of web browsing but a great deal of time spent in applications so that @tgianno can clobber me in Word with Friends or any of the other Zynga games we’re playing. Portable is still a maturing platform and I don’t see ditching applications there in the near future.
But, let’s turn back to the traditional computer. Life here is indeed spent on the web. Alfred laments the demise of the standalone Tweetdeck and I remember how I felt when the Seesmic Desktop stopped being supported. I evaluated everything under the sun and ended up with what fits my needs perfectly – Hootsuite. It runs on the web; the developers are constantly updating things and these updates don’t interfere with my use.
My documents, spreadsheets, forms, and presentations are all handled so nicely with Google Drive and Evernote. In fact, I can’t recall the last time that I had to seriously use anything but a web browser to do anything.
Image Courtesy of Morgue Files
As I write this, I just opened my Applications Folder. It’s not like there’s a shortage of applications in there. As I scroll through them, I guess I would have to revisit the last sentence in the preceding paragraph. It’s all coming back to me. Last Christmas, I did use Adobe Photoshop for some graphics work. Do I really have to go that far back? I guess I do. Looking at the extensions and tools that I’ve added to extend the power of Google Chrome, it really has become my digital toolkit. Ditto for Firefox on Ubuntu.
For me, Life with an App does seem to be relegated to mobile. Maybe I just haven’t tried hard enough there?
There definitely are limitations to working solely online. The internet needs to be there! Privacy concerns encourage a second and third thought before signing up for anything new.
However, I think the writing is on the wall for me. I could be writing this post using a local app in Qumana or I could be using LiveWriter, but I’m not. I’m using ScribeFire in the Google Chrome browser. It’s not quite a web app; it’s sure is not a local app; it’s really a browser app. Times have certainly changed.
There is another aspect to all of this. Every time a new computer needs to be purchased, it’s a total exercise in spec checking. How much processor, how much drive space, how much RAM can I afford to buy to feed the habit. At the Google Summit, I had a great conversation @mrfusco who has been living/working with his Chromebook. If you like Google Chome and don’t mind working in an OS that works like a browser, is $250 all that you need to buy to stay on top of things? Put the power mongering in the hands of the web service provider!
The bottom line for me includes a wonderful collection of extensions to my browser and the miracles that programmers are doing with HTML5. It’s not a perfect world and this article provides a nice comparison.
Like it or not, I seem to be migrating to Life in a Browser. It seems to be my new reality, Alfred!
Related articles
- Some best and must have Google Chrome extensions (technostall.com)
- Google: Chrome is the most used browser with 750+ million active users (9to5google.com)
- Why I’ve Switched from Google Chrome (lockergnome.com)
- Playing Around With Browsers Part 2 (renardmoreau.wordpress.com)
- Chromium Likely to Replace Firefox As Default Browser in Ubuntu 13.10 (omgubuntu.co.uk)
- 750 Million Active Chrome Browser Users Each Month (coated.com)
doug -- off the record 
Please share your thoughts here. I’d enjoy reading them.