Main Area and Open Discussion > General Software Discussion

Web 2.0 Poll

<< < (3/3)

wasker:
I like that web apps became richer now, but c'mon, most of them is just another way to get moneys from VCs while being on a hype.

housetier:
It's not there yet, but soon it will be. I am thinking of free localization services based on free user created maps under CC. "web 2.0" will be the means for people to create what they really want, and not what big news corps want to sell.

iphigenie:
It also depends how you define web2.0
Web 2.0 covers several things - from a new "fad" in design style to the asynchronous way of doing things in the browser (not needing to reload the page) to the use of style sheets and standards, to the extensive use of user interaction and contribution, to the new "rich internet applications" technologies like flex, silverlight etc.

All of these mean web2.0 to some people

Since it seems we are talking mostly about RIAs and whether they will
* turn out to be a fad and go away
* stay and take over the world
* become part of a mix

I think the obvious idea is that they will certainly become part of a mix - and might take over more than you think

The advantages they have to the user are
- access the same thing from any computer, independent of OS, including (over time) PDAs and mobile phones
- moving some of the processing cost to the server, i.e. you dont need as powerful a PC
- cost, no need to shell up £400 up front and no need to pay for software you might only need once in a while
- convenience, no need to install software that you might only need once in a while
- their server is more likely to be backed up and safe than your typical computer

The disadvantages to the user are
- you have to be online, should you end up stuck with no connection you cant do a thing
- you dont have as much control over your data/tools
- typically slower
- less choice than in desktop apps
- the cost of developing and making these tools is higher so they will typically be fee based or advertising based, and there wont be the equivalent of the simple-tool-that-does-one-thing-well long term

I tend to prefer offline, desktop tools for the speed, responsiveness. But the biggest problem is cost and the hassle if you work on multiple PCs (i have a laptop at work, a home desktop and a private laptop...) - paying n licenses, sync'ing.

To me the killer apps will be the ones who are online, so you can access them from anywhere, but have some sort of offline component, so you can mirror to your main computer or PDA should you have to be offline (on a plane, train, at a friends house). All within the tool.

wmain:
I rarely work from my home base where my main computer is sutuated. I find web 2.0 very convenient for that reason. I can do most things either remotely or using web apps.

I use the free logmein and Hamachi for working remotely.

I have all of my documents  and spreadsheets up on Google. If I need to I'll save the file as a word or excel file, work on it, then upload it back to google. Most edits I can do in the google apps, it's rare that i actually need the full power of office or openoffice.

All of my various email addresses forward to my one gmail account. If I need to transfer a file quickly I'll create a gmail message, attach the file then save it. Then when I get to my destination I'll open the message, retrieve the attachment then delete the saved message.

f0dder:
Just remember that when deleting something on gmail, it's not really deleted, and still being used for google's database indexing.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[*] Previous page