Chris Monnat » Tech Commentary

Your thoughts: Do web apps need offline components?

Chris — Wed, 06 May 2009 10:00:16 +0000

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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HP Giveaway

Chris — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 01:58:26 +0000

Chris Pirillo is giving away a whole bunch of HP stuff. Check out the video below for how you can qualify to win.

Carsonified Giveaway

Behind the scenes at Digg

Chris — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 14:19:55 +0000

The folks over at Digg recently started a blog and today posted about the Digg architecture and how things work from a physical hardware standpoint. If your curious, check it out.

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Google browser?

Chris — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 13:10:07 +0000

So here I am on a Tuesday, that feels a lot like a Monday, and I come across a number of posts in my Google Reader about Google coming out with a web browser of their own called Chrome. Huh?? Google made a web browser?? I was just saying the other day that what we needed was one more web browser in the world.

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Great Advice

Chris — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 13:45:07 +0000

I was wandering through my RSS feeds this morning and came across a mention of a post written by Aaron Swartz entitled How To Launch Software. In it he talks about the benefits of launching software slowly and carefully vs. quickly and flashy. I totally agree with him and think you should check out his post for yourself.

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Skills Every IT Person Needs

Chris — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 15:58:41 +0000

My dad sent me a link to a great article this morning called 30 Skills Every IT Person Needs published by CIO. It’s got some good ones on there like points 5, 10 and 15. Check it out and see how your skills compare.

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YAHOO! Launches BOSS

Chris — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 18:51:48 +0000

Today YAHOO! announced the release of BOSS which stands for “build your own search service”. BOSS is a web service that gives developers access to YAHOO’s search infrastructure and technology so they can build their own niche search engines. Sounds kind of cool, check it out when you have time.

Dissecting Sign-Up Forms

Chris — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 23:02:40 +0000

The folks over at Smashing Magazine have put together a very detailed article that looks at popular design patterns when it comes to sign-up forms. Check it out when you have some time.

Searchable Flash

Chris — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 12:30:40 +0000

Google and Yahoo can now see the text inside of flash movies. This means that flash can now be included in the wonderful world of SEO. ARS Technica has the full story.