

Is The Web Dead? - px
http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2010/08/is-the-web-dead.html

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ams6110
Of course the browser was never _intended_ to be a general purpose
applications platform... it was intended to allow hypertext browsing in a
standard way. Apps were shoehorned into this environment, simple
submit/response forms at first, then later richer UIs as browsers had more and
more support bolted on... but web apps have never been and still are not
capable of delivering the user experience of a native (fat) client app.

As Apple has finally invented an internet "appliance" that people like to use,
it would not surprise me to see an increasing trend of consumer buying away
from a general purpose PCs (which few folks really need and most tolerate only
because there is no better alternative) and towards these much friendlier,
easier to use, more specialized platforms.

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pvg
The web might be becoming slightly less of a Single and Obvious Answer as a
platform for internet technology investors and entrepreneurs - how much so,
well, they'll figure it out.

Rumours of the web's death are greatly exaggerated, though. It's the largest
generally accessible, indexed, hyperlinked, searchable repository of
information out there by a crushing margin. Oh and you can add essentially
whatever you want to it for essentially nothing. It's effectively immortal, or
at the very least, undead. If you ever find yourself regularly spending an
hour online without doing a search, clicking, saving or sharing a link then
the web might be on its way out. We should all live so long.

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peterarmstrong
The Wired article (especially the charts!) is essentially equating bandwidth
with usage: according to it, video is > 50x more "alive" than email. I
typically spend much more time per day on email than video, but my guess is
the episode of Mad Men that iTunes downloaded for me yesterday counts more
than my last month of email...

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bsaunder
I think we will see a migration towards 3D environments as the primary
platform. I think 3D TVs will pave the way for computing devices (it may
already have and I'm behind the curve).

It'll start with games but I wouldn't be surprised if we saw a 3D enabled
"browser" within a couple of years. In the beginning it might be driven just
by being 'cool'. But then I'm sure we'll see some real UI enhancements based
on it (just like we saw with the recent AJAX/'JavaScript is Okay' trend).

So if "web is dead" refers to 2D HTML, I think it may be in it's sunset years.
If it means external references from one piece of data to another, no way.
That's here to stay, just in other forms.

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qjz
The only thing new about 3D is that it finally looks good (meaning _almost_ as
good as a GAF Viewmaster). But to enjoy it, you still depend upon cumbersome
eyewear. I think it will be big in entertainment (films & gaming) and to a
lesser degree live chat/video telephony (for those who are interested in such
things), but I doubt that it will dominate in the world of passive computing.

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c1sc0
I think the web is far from dead, but designing for web _browsers_ first is
becoming a deadly strategy. Most interesting bit from the article: "In a board
meeting yesterday, the founder said, 'everything we do is cloud-based, with an
API, and mobile friendly'". That's very insightful: the time has come to
design your apps for mobile devices first.

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iamjustlooking
I'm not so sure that any particular website will live or die from a lack of
API or mobile support outside of the social type websites.

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grg
The quick answer: no, it's not dead.

