Is there a future for desktop applications.

[Scott Segrin]

Re: Is there a future for desktop applications.

This is a great question.

I have only done a small amount of app development, but it seems to me that despite all of the advances for the web app development (and I agree - it's really "browser based"), you can still build a more user friendly, ascetically pleasing app for the desktop. That being said, I don't know where desktop development has to go in order to grow. The development tools seem fully matured. I'd have a hard time coming up with a list of things I wished that I could do in a desktop app that I can't. Not so for the web - I could make a list as long as my arm. But, the momentum is clearly in web development and it's catching up fast.

[MikeData]

Re: Is there a future for desktop applications.

Let me put my 2 cents, actually with the new economy in mind let me say My 2 gallons of gas: Steven and Doug you are both correct. We need to think with new ideas.
We already have learned the old ways, Why not embrace the new technology?
My vote is keep both, at least for a while.

[Steven P.]

Re: Is there a future for desktop applications.

Hi,

This topic has been on my mind as well for a long time. Time and time again I see that
development efforts are taken to mimic the user-friendlyness of desktop applications and
sure we're getting there however for many businesses web applications aren't the way to
go.

Accessing printer settings from a web application f.i. Printing on both sides was easy
with windows applications since the application talks to the windows printer driver, puts
the printer in recto/verso mode and off you go. Not so with internet explorer/firefox
whatever your flavour of the browser is. ... Printing HTML reports ? Where is the pagebreak ?
oh, there is none... hopefully you're using the A4 format in your printer.

I'm sure that there is still a need for desktop applications however the decision to develop
for the desktop is easier overruled these days because 'it's all web in the first place syndrome'.

Do we need to mention the technical difficulties of users modifying the same data ? Keeping
track of state with connection-less software ?

I used to develop for a client/server software package called Vantive. That's a long time ago.
You had a client and a server part. The business logic was developed in a VBA-like language,
The scripts in VBA were located in the database. Updating business logic was easy

Then I moved to Peoplesoft, the same phylosophy, client / server - business logic in scripts
located in the database. Installation was easy, not a lot of patches for the client, patches
or change requests needed to be deployed in the database and everybody had the latest version.

Then Peoplesoft moved over to the web. The same methods still applied but it's much more error
prone. Users closing the browser without saving ... no message will be displayed when you close
the browser. Locking of users on an application level is virtual impossible since you don't know
what the actions of the user will be in a internet browser ... etc...

No, still the use of desktop application should be stressed but maybe more in a hybrid way. Why
not use the HTTP protocol to handle transactions from a desktop application ? The webserver could
deliver XML that defines how the screens should look like... there is plenty of innovation
opportunities that are not addressed yet.

I could go on but now it's all about ajax, Adobe Air, Silverlight, Google Gears... etc...

[Doug Page]

Re: Is there a future for desktop applications.

The enormous amount of time invested in web based utilities in version 9 and the new codeless ajax for the web based version 10 ...

The way I view things would make the above statement incorrect. You have used the term "web based" twice in this sentence inferring that this is all for the world wide web. This is where I think most people are making a mistake. This is all "browser based" and that does not mean that it needs to be used on the web. Apps created for an intranet will offer similar functionality to the "desktop" applications that you now think are being forgotton about. It allows one to much more simply create multi-user applications that can now run on any machine or OS that you want - Windows, Mac, Windows Mobile, Linux, Unix, iPhone, etc. And if you decide to you want portions of your app visible to the outside world, by altering your security settings and not your app then it can be. And your application is now more client-server like with most everything taking place on the server. With those nice 64bit machines showing up and OS's that can use them with tons of memory, you now only need to upgrade one machine to get enormous benefits for all users. I think that the biggest difficulty for an A5 developer is knowing what the possiblilities are within the browser as most of us have not been doing html, java, ajax, etc. coding. Well I think for all of us to take the next step, that is exactly what we need to start doing. It appears that V10 is going to make alot of this easy to start adopting. However, just like coding for todays "desktop" apps, to get the maximum benefits requires us to learn more of the programming languages available like XBasic. Now we can add to our arsenal all the browser based programming techniques to allow us to do almost anything we currently can.

So hopefully everyone can stop thinking of WAS programming as just something for the internet and start thinking of it as just a different way to get the job done. One that is much more flexible than the tools we have been using to date.

[Scott_Walker]

Re: Is there a future for desktop applications.

Marcel,

I think you are really hitting on the question that many developers have to be asking themselves. I am planning a new application and I am currently wrestling with the question of whether is should be web based only or if there should also be a desktop side. Of course if you are doing a custom application for a client, you give them what they want and are willing to pay for (one or the other or both).

But if you are developing an application to resell to many (hopefully) customers then you as the developer have to gauge what the market for each of them is at this point. If you are just starting development then you have to try to gauge what the market will be a couple of years down the road. I would guess that the web based stuff is the future and to put a lot of development on the desktop side would not be worth it. Then of course you are taking the risk that the functionality you will need will be there.

I am really interested to hear other more educated takes on this issue.

Regards,

Scott

[glenschild]

Re: Is there a future for desktop applications.

Hi Marcel

Interesting thoughts and no doubt a healthy debate will ensue!

Personally I believe there is a place for both. However, increasingly I can see larger organisations opting for a web based option however smaller businesses will still have a need for desktop based systems. I can also see an increasing market for a hybrid of both technologies.

Regards

Glen

[Marcel Kollenaar]

Hi,

Reading all the new features of Alpha Five version 10 I'm wondering if there is a future for the development of desktop applications in Alpha Five. The enormous amount of time invested in web based utilities in version 9 and the new codeless ajax for the web based version 10 gives me the feeling that the desktop is some what "under developed" and more or less dead. Do not misunderstood me, I'm happy with the codeless feature of ajax.