Your thoughts: Do web apps need offline components?

I’ve seen a lot of discussion over the last couple of months about things like Google Gears and Adobe Air, technologies that make it easier to develop web applications that can be run/accessed from the desktop. The more I consider this concept the more I scratch my head in confusion. I have had a request or two from my customers to develop desktop components to my systems but have always dismissed the concept because of the complexity. That and I guess I just don’t understand the need.

I believe that the web is becoming the operating system of the future. More and more SaaS companies are popping up everyday and more apps are finding their way online until most of the software people use will be web based. When I boot up my computer the first program I open is a web browser. So that brings me to the question at hand: do web apps need offline components? I’m referring to desktop clients (like the multitude of Twitter clients I’ve seen lately) and separate versions that let you work when you don’t have Internet access (which is slowly becoming a rarity). Is it really worth all the work and complexity that goes along with it?

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