LiveCode Player for 5.5

[Ken Corey]

On 23/03/2012 11:21, Bernard Devlin wrote:
> OK.  Thanks for that explanation. It sounds like tomorrow has arrived
> (although the emphasis is on "might replace desktop apps").  From your
> description both RealStudio and RunRev are facing in the wrong
> direction.  But there are many people who have pivoted their careers
> about to learn Objective-C, a language which only 4 years ago seemed
> to be about as niche as one could get.  One project I was involved in
> back then migrated to python because it was just too hard to get
> people who knew anything about Objective-C.  Runrev and RealStudio
> will not be the only ones who might have chosen the wrong path
> ultimately.
>
> I will have to look into HTML5 further :)

Web apps (HTML/CSS/jQuery) are not a panacea.

I speak as one who has written a large web app (desktop publishing, 
aimed at HR departments: docrobot.co.uk).

When they work, they can provide outstanding qualities (no installation 
needed, quick to deploy, low maintenance, quick to update, etc).

However, they are brittle, dependant upon fluctuating browser 
technology, firewall technology, always being online, rely on 
device/O.S. features being expressed in a browser, etc.

There are cases where web apps make sense...and if you find a niche like 
that more power to you, but I cannot believe that native apps are going 
away any time soon.

The iOS situation makes that abundantly clear. Web apps are 
significantly esier to write than native apps for many tasks. You can 
deploy them without Apple having a word to say about them. Thanks to 
Apple's WebKit efforts they look and work remarkably well...and yet...

Apple says there are over 500,000 native apps
(http://www.apple.com/iphone/built-in-apps/app-store.html), with over 10 
billion downloads.

How many folks are clamoring for web apps?

-Ken