The idea that web apps will replace desktop apps refuses to go away. I hear it every week. It’s an idea that’s been around for nearly a decade now, and probably will be for another decade. That’s a shame, because it often leads software developers to make bad decisions that waste vast sums of money and result in crippled software.
Why do I care?
Because our flagship product is a desktop app, while our competitors’ are all web apps, and when our customers think they need a web app, we lose sales.
So I was glad to see what Steve Jobs didn’t say about web apps vs desktop apps, in his keynote presentation at the 2011 Apple WorldWide Developer Conference. What he didn’t say was this:
“For applications that require intensive user interaction, such as incremental search, image display, drag and drop and interactive functionality, such as iTunes, a desktop solution is better than a web solution. In fact, a web solution sort of sucks.”
How didn’t he say that?
Toward the end of the presentation, Jobs was comparing iCloud to the equivalent Amazon and Google offerings. At the top of his feature chart was the platform comparison. iCloud uses iTunes. The others are web apps. The Apple crowd clapped their approval.
On the Mac platform then, it seems that having a desktop app is a clear advantage.
Why is this less so on the Windows platform? That’s obvious. Because Mac users love their operating system, while Windows users tend to hate theirs. They want to leave their OS behind. They think web apps will help them do that.
That’s not going to happen. Windows is getting better, and Windows apps are getting better. We think, for instance, that our flagship product is a great Windows app. Most important, we think it’s better than our competitors’ web apps.
I think Steve Jobs might agree, and if you’re looking for a fluid software process management tool, I hope you agree too.
June 11, 2011
Exia Process