Web desktops - do you find it interesting?

Question

As a win32 developer moving into web deveopment the last few years, I found the
web desktops based on extjs very interesting.

Coolite Desktop (broken)
Extjs Desktop
Puppy Web Desktop
Wikipedia list
Lifehack list
Windows 3.1 desktop (broken)
Do you know about others?

Without any experience of developing applications as web desktops (and I am not promoting extjs, only impressed...),
I have to say I like the concept.

What do you think, is it useful?

Edit Dec 30 More about the subject here:
are-webos-practical-yet

Answer 1

NO.

Also, Uncanny valley of UI.

Answer 2

I think they serve as purely tech demos, I don't see the web desktop getting any traction unless Google jumps on this and offers all their major apps (Google Office, Gmail, etc) as apps within a web desktop.

Of course the whole desktop methodology doesn't exactly fit the browser mentality very well.

Answer 3

I find it an interesting experiment, but I don't really find much added value in it.

The desktop concept works for an operating system. Most people use one operating system. They are familiar with how it works and what to expect in terms of navigation. That being said, having a desktop at an application (or site) level adds another navigation model that the user must learn. If they are expecting it to be the same at their OS (which it won't likely be), then it can lead to confusion because it doesn't work exactly like what they're used to - although it looks like it should.

Answer 4

In my opinion but people will never use them as a desktop replacement, there are too many quirks and potential pitfalls to be an actual replacement or even useful.

They do make an cool demo of ajax-y technologies and serve as a guide on how to develop apps with that desktop feel (which I'm not sure it's worth it), but not much more.

Answer 5

Really it doesn't look like a huge step forward. I don't care if the desktop runs in my browser vs my actual PC. Desktop environments continue to suffer from a lot of problems.

First, I really need some way to declutter and organize open apps around my personal real-world "logical" tasks. Desktop environments all display a single, poorly organized static list of apps. I feel like I have lost my mind half the time during a busy work day. I often get a feeling synonymous with the "why did I come into this room!?!" feeling when I can't keep track of where I am in the desktop environment, or why a given app is even open.

Attempts have been made to address this by grouping items by application. For example, in Windows, grouping all the Microsoft Word content in one group on the taskbar. The thing is, I need things on the task to actually correspond to my real world tasks. Granted, I don't expect the UI to read my mind, but if there was some really slick way to group multiple instances of different apps together and identify them with one task, that would be awesome.

Another problem with desktop environments is their performance. They continue to attempt to push the limits of what hardware can do. Often, they go to far. As Jeff points out, for a developer, I want my tools to work fast. I can't stand waiting for some GUI widget to load so I can code, or for that matter browse the web or write an email. This, in my opinion, is why straight up command line development continues to thrive and why many of us don't want to give up Windows XP for Vista.

If Vista can't get this right, performance is not going to be improved by having a "web desktop".

Answer 6

The demonstration of capabilities is amazing. To create a desktop environment in a web browser is a beautiful indication of what browsers and javascript are capable of.

With that said, I believe it will (and hope it does) die as a viable development platform. Currently browsers don't provide the processing power that a desktop does and ease of development is much greater for desktop than browser "simulated" desktops.

Answer 7

the desktop metaphor in a web browser is neat, but

• the first link was still downloading images after 1 minute so i closed the browser
• the second link came up instantly and looked really good
• for intranet applications this might make sense
• for task-based site with multiple tasks this might make sense
• this isn't that new of a concept - BBS software had this 20+ years ago, and extended it to the web 8-10 years ago; the metaphor was not very popular because that's not how people use the web...yet!

Answer 8

Like others have said, this has been around for a while. I think if it was gonna take off, it would have already. I don't think it's a matter of technology catching up, I think it's a matter of developers not wanting to put time into a tried-and-didn't-take-off technology.

Is the desktop a good way to organize your apps? Most people I know don't use their desktop very often, it's rarely actually visible. The Start menu in Windows sees much more use and it's analagous to a list of browser bookmarks.

Also, my opinion is that Silverlight will allow better browser-based user experiences with less development time.

Answer 9

No, because the web is the OS, the platform is the browser.

I use several web based application including Google Docs, Gmail and so on. Not all of them are from the same provider. I access them all using my browser.

Forcing me into using a "web desktop" is like the portal thinking of the ISP's ten years back - forcing users into your own "world" to make them use only the application you provide. Instead of just acting as a gateway to reach all the possible choices out there.

IMHO, this is why web desktops will fail. The OS of a PC is there to tap into all the possible resources of your desktop, in the same way the browser is for the internet. Web desktops is to me equal to install yet another OS on your current one and limit yourself to use only that.