Today I was reading about Buzzword, yet another Web-based word processor. There is some sort of a Buzzword preview page, but it said the browsers I tried were “unsupported.” At the very least, they could have put up some screenshots of their application on that page, so people like me can see what we’re supposedly missing out on.
We’ve all seen cars that have been “riced out“. Typically, a rather lousy car has all sorts of doodads and gizmos stuck on it. Sometimes this is done for the sake of the car’s appearance. Sometimes it’s done in a vain attempt to increase the vehicle’s performance. Regardless, what often happens is that it’s a costly hassle to modify the car, in the end the car looks awful, the performance actually decreases, and there’s been virtually nothing gained.
Michi Kono recently wrote about how the most talented Web developers are usually also the most talented application developers. I propose that we take it a step further: a great Web developer is usually a superb application developer. Or in a different light, a great Web developer is a waste of a really great application developer.
Those who follow recent trends in Web development have no doubt heard of “scrollovers“. It’s a JavaScript- and CSS-based method for making the text of a typical hyperlink “scroll” upwards, from one color to another. I don’t doubt that others will adapt the technique to other uses.
One of the major benefits often claimed of Web-based applications is that they reduce the burden on the user when it comes to maintaining the software, but also any corresponding data. However, this is not the case. When using a service such as Gmail or Google Docs & Spreadsheets, it becomes essential to make backups of any data that is stored remotely. There is a Lifehacker article describing how to back up your data for several of Google’s Web-based applications.
Today I shared the experience a friend had with one of the companies he works with. It involved a failed transition from what was mainly a console-based suite of applications powered by Sun systems and Oracle, to an AJAX and Web-based system running on Windows, .NET and SQL Server. It seems that that entry was submitted to Reddit, and so I’ve been reading some of the comments that were left there.
Ricardo Herrmann just left an excellent comment to an article I had written about the general inadequacy of JavaScript-based Web applications. In his comment, he points out the Brickslayer game. It’s essentially a JavaScript-based Breakout clone. And like Ricardo pointed out, Breakout ran quite well on an Atari 2600. Keep in mind that the Atari 2600 is, well, rather under-powered compared to typical desktop computers today.
There has been a lot of discussion lately about the application development platform that Facebook has become, as well as on the various other “Web operating systems” that are being developed. For example, there was some discussion today on Slashdot about Facebook’s acquisition of Parakey. I think it’s quite unfortunate that the industry is heading in that direction. It’s looking like that’s the wrong direction to go in.
I recently wrote about Pyro Desktop. Pyro is essentially an effort to merge the desktop and the Web, which I think is a poor idea. I’ve gotten some interesting feedback on that article from others, and I’d like to address their comments.
The first comment is from Manuzhai, over at Reddit. It focuses on the suitability of the Web as an application development platform. The basic suggestion is that while the browser may not have been an adequate platform in the past and even the present, the continual evolution of JavaScript will change that.
I was reading today about Pyro Desktop. As the Pyro homepage states: Pyro is a new kind of desktop environment for Linux built on Mozilla Firefox. Its goal is to enable true integration between the Web and modern desktop computing. By merging the Web with the desktop, Pyro offers the first big step toward a new future for the Web and the applications built for it.