More Cote’: “What most desktop applications lack now-a-days are features that are fully web-enabled, in a bi-directional sense.”
Exactly. And “fully web-enabled, in a bi-directional sense” needs to extend to the mobile device as well. Software above the level of a single device may be a key tenet of Web 2.0, but current Web 2.0 applications are doing an absolutely miserable job of fulfilling it. We need to get synchronization right (with full support for disconnected operation!) before this new platform can truly replace the fat client, though as I’ve said before, I see the new platform as more of an extension to the fat client than as a replacement for it. Trust me. I was just in Moscow for nearly a week without reliable Internet access. I don’t care how nice Gmail is, it was utterly useless to me sitting there in my hotel room trying to get the finicky WiFi to work. Guess what? I’m back on Thunderbird now, even though I like Gmail better. (No, POP doesn’t count as “web-enabled, in a bi-directional sense.”)
As Cote said “most” but not all. Lotus Notes provides synchronization done right already. As I responded on Mr O’Grady’s blog it’s already available – had that flexibility for long time now.
Why IBM doesn’t host Domino/Notes on a large scale is beyond me. It’s not like they don’t have the hardware to do it. Given the potential market it would be a very “cheap” investment.
Think about it.
INTEGRATED Mail, Calendaring, To-do lists, IM, Document Mangement, CRM – all of it available as web OR rich-client and fully synchronized in a bi-directional way with disconnected use. Your local store in disconnected mode is also highly secure. In addition the synchronization process is highly optmized for bandwidth usage because it does field level checks on what to synchronize etc. Advanced users can selectively choose what to synchronize at a very granular level.
Is anybody here looking for what I just said? Raise your hands.
If they would *just* host it in a *BIG* way..I think they still have a lead of 18-24 months before anyone else actually makes it real. Most likely Google.
Is there someone out there who has enough influence on the right people to grab them by the collar and give them a shake?
James, Stephen, Cote, anyone? They already have what everyone is still trying to build..