It amazes me how this is always overlooked, why are web apps used over desktop apps?
Because it's easier for the end user.
Have you ever tried to get a user to install a piece of software? It is hard. They don't know what is going on, is it going to harm their system, is it a virus? What are these terms I'm agreeing to? Whereas a web app they go to the site and BOOM it's done, loaded, and ready to go.
Having to download and install a program makes a lot of things a non-starter for many users. A lot of us struggle with that concept due to a lack of empathy for a general computer user. I have downloaded three programs today alone and didn't think twice about it. But that is just not going to happen for the vast majority of users, and is one of the areas where we (software developers in general) have a hard time empathizing with our end users on.
The Windows world needs an standard application sandbox for Win32 applications like iOS, Android, Linux (docker) and FreeBSD (jail). WinNT has the functionality inbuilt since NT 3.1 but the Win32 shell doesn't expose it.
Because it's easier for the end user.
Have you ever tried to get a user to install a piece of software? It is hard. They don't know what is going on, is it going to harm their system, is it a virus? What are these terms I'm agreeing to? Whereas a web app they go to the site and BOOM it's done, loaded, and ready to go.
Having to download and install a program makes a lot of things a non-starter for many users. A lot of us struggle with that concept due to a lack of empathy for a general computer user. I have downloaded three programs today alone and didn't think twice about it. But that is just not going to happen for the vast majority of users, and is one of the areas where we (software developers in general) have a hard time empathizing with our end users on.