Has web development overtaken desktop development?

Question

Is there more happening on the web than on the desktop?

It seems like so much is happening on the web that maybe I should prioritize web development skills over desktop development skills. Does this seem like a good choice?

Answer 1

The problem is your reading too much information surrounding web development. Facebook this, Google that etc...

Desktop application development is still as strong as ever and will always have its place. It depends on where you want your career to go.

Answer 2

Do what interests you. There is plenty of development for each. I have my preference and am biased towards the desktop.

Just going to web development because there is a lot of it is not really a good reason - every high-schooler with a computer is also "developing for the web". Find a passion or niche or interest.

Answer 3

I think that it has. Most of my clients want the same level of access to their applications as they get with their email.

To be honest, I find desktop apps much easier to create and manage but I am finding it harder and harder to come up with reason for my client as to why the should go with a desktop app. Saas is a 'buzz' word that manager seems to have really latched on to.

Answer 4

I think that there is more and more openness to migrating things to the web now that we have techniques like AJAX and relatively strong browser-side programming (JavaScript/Flash/etc.)

I still feel that desktop applications should be superior, but with the kind of UIs and sandboxing one can do with Flash and Java these days, the barrier will fade with time. Bandwidth is already strong enough - I often develop in Eclipse via VNC and the lag is not so bad.

In the end, however, programming is programming. As web-side UIs become richer and richer, the same issues and skills that are involved in desktop development will affect people on this side. And in general, you would still need business side logic.

Answer 5

Desktop development will have it's place for a long time. But for most of the enterprise app development I am doing now it is just assumed it will be a web app.

Answer 6

Web apps do seem to be all the rage right now, but honestly I wouldn't be too terribly worried about it. At a certain level, programming is programming. It's all algorithms, data structures, and i/o. Once you have a good grasp on the fundamentals, and a fistful of languages in your toolbox, you can easily write desktop apps, console apps, web apps, or whatever "hot" new paradigm is invented next.

Answer 7

sarego is ignorantly wrong I'm afraid. I'm not trying to pick a fight at all but while web application definitly have had a great couple of years when it comes to advancements, with the introduction of AJAX, webservices, javascript libraries like prototype and jquery, great web toolkits for development environments (such as the telerik control suite for asp.net web application development) as so on - its still not nearly as powerful as a client side application is. I'm sorry, but it's not.

Yes, web applications are truly amazing, and I work with developing them each day as a profession, but like many stated it's also seeing a dramatic buzz-word-effect where many people want to make their applications web applications without really having a solid foundation to base that on. You'll see that many advocate availability as an argument but so can rich client applications be. For example both Java and ,NET have amazing support for deployment over the wire using technologies like "Web Start" (for Java) and ClickOnce (for .NET)

With the introduction of Microsoft Silverlight 2 and its possibility to develop XBAP format applications you are going to start seeing even more. I believe Sun is also talking with Adobe about marrying Java with Flash to accomplish the same.

As I said, I develop both kinds of applications for a living and I love to see the increase in advanced web applications (take Google Docs for example, its awesome) that's out there but non of them will kill of a client side application in a long long time.

Answer 8

In terms of front-end work, the web may be sexier than the desktop and so it gets more headlines. How many desktop applications would get some headlines for being widely used? Also, what are the other kinds of front-end out there, e.g. how does game console development fit into this interpretation of things or databases for that matter, are all Java applications web or could some be desktop. Are there hybrid applications that you could play over the web or stand-alone that use a bit of both web and desktop development?

Pick what you like to do as there are likely various developers in that field of expertise as others have said would be my main suggestion.

Answer 9

To some extent I'd say that depends on the application. If you want to do stuff with the program that really needs a dedicated machine, like signal processing or serious CAD, i don't really see the point in having the UI in a browser.

Answer 10

It depends on where you're looking.

Most of the world will never see 99% of the code that gets written, because it is inhouse software.

At my work I'm the one building the web accessible line of business app for our clients, but on the desks next to me are the guys doing the Pocket PC app, and the series of cubes next to me are the guys doing the desktop stuff. But unless you work for us, or are a client, you'll never see it - so you can't tell just what is being done 'behind the firewall'.

I'd pick an area you're interested in working in, and become good at it. Dabble in other areas so you have a broad knowledge. But desktop apps are always going to be developed, just like web apps will - the barrier to entry, the 'sexyness', and the ease of getting a web app in yoru face just makes it seem like they're where all the development is going right now.

Answer 11

I totally agree with Sherm Pendley.

Web apps are "hot" now so they get more buzz. I haven't been keeping track but I seriously doubt that the growth of web apps has reduced the amount of desktop apps.

Though in the future it might be that the difference between the two will be smaller. Take media RSS application for example. It sits on your desktop yet everything you see is from the web. Which is it? Desktop or web? (maybe not the best of examples but you get the idea)

another example: Google chrome added a feature where you can add shortcuts to web sites on you're desktop. Those are opened in a browser that has now traditional browser controls. It looks a lot like a desktop app.