I found the following comment interesting:
"But the users voted with their feet for the browser and we got to about where we are now."
The majority of end-users I deal with find the web:
1) Slow
2) Difficult to understand
3) Error-prone
4) Non-standardized
The author claims that the thick-client apps with the "funny-shaped buttons and bizarre screen layouts" are what users rebel against. Try and find two web applications that look even remotely similar in terms of navigation or functionality.
For example take a look at www.microsoft.com, www.yahoo.com, www.sun.com for three diffreent web interfaces (all horrible) which would overwhelm any novice user far more than any WinApp that I've ever seen.
If anything users are flocking away from the browser back to thick client interfaces such as Napster, MSN Messenger, Netmeeting, etc.
The idea that the big advantage of XML is in how we move data to the browser misses the point. The big promise of XML is that it allows us to move BEYOND the browser and let my Delphi App on Win2K talk to your Java App running on Linux which is talking to some WebObjects app running on an IMac.
Developers really need to move beyond this "my platform is better that your platform" mentality (e.g. my browser is better than your VB app) and start working on developing apps designed to interact with other platforms.
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