Is developing for desktop dead?
Traditionally, we accessed applications via desktop. We downloaded and installed products, using that native digital doorway saved to our computer for repeat entry.
Web-based solutions have since wreaked disruption upon this tradition. We increasingly access our applications via browsers, consuming the technology through a web log-in.
This shift has sparked an ongoing debate in the tech world. Amid the rise and rise of web-based applications, is it time to sound the death knell for the development of desktop apps?
The decline of desktop
There can be no doubt that desktop applications have seen a decline. This is mostly down to competition with newer web-based applications. So, to understand the reason for the gradual desktop decline, it’s worth examining the popularity of web-based applications.
Web-based apps have a much lower onboarding barrier. They don’t require a memory-eating download. This means that users can simply log in and go. Plus, updates and upgrades to the software are much easier to manage. Meanwhile, desktop apps need updating on every machine.
This instant online access also means that web-based apps are less hardware intensive. Desktop apps are restricted to the specific operating system they’re written for. In comparison, web-based apps are often more lightweight. So, they’re able to work with a variety of machines and operating systems — be they fast, slow, new, old, portable or stationary.
Besides, why would developers want to spend time developing a desktop app? To support multiple operating systems with desktop, you need to write more code. With web-based apps, they only need to code once, and it works everywhere.
From this angle, web-based apps sound much more efficient for everyone involved.
The digital nomad and web-based apps
Another key driver of the web-based app is a cultural shift in the way we work and use technology. Mobile connectivity is growing, and hardware is becoming more portable to boot. These evolutions are changing the workplace. Specifically, we’re seeing a rise in the so-called ‘digital nomad’.
This affects a major part of our everyday technology use. More people (known as ‘digital nomads’) are embracing their adventurous side and working remotely from various places in the world. For these people, web-based applications are extremely useful.
Why? Because web-based applications are more accessible, transportable and flexible than desktop apps. Digital nomads can access the software — and their data — from any device and from any location with an internet connection.
Not dead yet
But all this doesn’t mean that desktop is dead, far from it. We shouldn’t be sounding the death knell for desktop apps.
Our taskbars remain dotted with downloaded applications, from the Office suite to Adobe Photoshop. And it’s not for lack of web-based alternatives. We could use Office 365 or Google Docs instead of a native office app if we wanted to. We could opt for an online email application instead of Outlook. But we don’t.
In these instances, people have chosen to use a downloaded, desktop application. It’s a preference, not a forced use.
Elsewhere, software applications that started life as online are becoming available as a desktop option as well. Think Trello, for a recent example. Indeed, the decline in desktop doesn’t mark the death of downloaded software. Rather, it’s the effect of desktop sharing the software spotlight with web-based apps.
Why the comeback?
So, why is desktop development making a comeback? The fact is that desktop apps will always offer benefits that web-based software doesn’t.
For example, desktop apps boast a higher degree of privacy than their web-based counterparts. Unlike online apps, desktop apps mean that all the data you use and create using the program is stored on your device. It’s with you, for you to access. Stored online, data is often more vulnerable, and likely exposed to more security threats.
Then, there’s the fact that some applications are simply better suited to desktop applications. Desktop apps are particularly convenient for those programs we use every day. And they’re particularly adept at promoting habitual use of the software. They’re easily accessible from the moment we’ve turned on our devices — without the need of an internet connection.
So, even the digital nomads can benefit from a few native apps on their devices. After all, we aren’t always online, and we don’t always have access to a reliable internet connection.
Desktops applications are also suited to a distinct userbase. For example, workplaces such as offices are still dominantly desktop-based. In such environments, device limitations aren’t a problem — everyone uses their office computer.
An integrated future
The future of desktop apps isn’t a grave in our computer recycle bins. Rather, it seems likely that they’ll continue to share the spotlight with web-based programs. Each has benefits that the other doesn’t, and the holes left by web-based apps are filled by desktop. They complement each other, rather than competing.
Choosing to develop for desktop doesn’t close the door to developing web-based options as well. It seems likely that more software companies will provide both. This way, they can give their users a choice, and reap the benefits of both types of app. Users can try it out with web-based, and switch to desktop for ease of access for daily routines.
That doesn’t mean that developing for desktop is going to remain the same as ever. Instead, it seems likely that desktop and web-based will begin to merge over the coming years. Development of desktop apps will include more online functionality, and users will be able to switch between native and online seamlessly.
The beginning of the evolution
The decline in desktop development is down to the fact that the desktop doesn’t have a monopoly anymore. It’s forced to share its attention with phones, tablets and even watches.
However, desktop applications aren’t dead yet, and they’re unlikely to be in the future. Instead, desktop development is continuing to evolve alongside our technology consumption habits.
In the meantime, there’s still a cause to develop for desktop, even if it does take that little bit longer.
