Filed under: Business, Internet, Features, Windows, Macintosh, Blogging, E-mail, Office, Productivity, Web services, Apple, Google, Microsoft, Shareware, Freeware, web 2.0
How many of the applications you use on a daily basis are web-based as opposed to locally installed native applications? For me, the answer is way more than I ever would have expected.
Had you asked me this question a few years ago, I would have vehemently denied that the future of development is on the web. As much as I could see and understand the value of a ubiquitously available web-based application, there's just no way to approach the level of power and integration (not to mention the ability to be always-available) that is possible with well conceived and developed desktop software.
Of course, back then I didn't imagine that web applications could become as useful as Google Calendar or Remember the Milk. I also didn't imagine that light - yet still useful - versions of these apps would be available from my mobile phone almost wherever I was.
In fact, and much to my surprise, today most of my personal data today is tied up in online services:
Gmail,
Google Calendar,
Google Docs,
Backpack,
Remember the Milk,
Facebook,
Newsgator, and
Evernote to name just a few.
Most of these are probably pretty familiar names, but one is a newcomer in the web space: Evernote. Still in beta, the new version of Evernote contains a full-featured web version, but synchronizes seamlessly with desktop software on either Windows or Mac platforms. And it's a breath of fresh air.