Bringing Web Applications to the Desktop

Alan Lewis - eBay

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Desktop 2.0

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Deskt3

op 2.04

What is it?

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Why does it matter?

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How do I start?

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Desktop 2.0 = IGUA

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WTF?

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Desktop 2.0 =

• Internet Connected

• Graphically Rich

• User-centric

• Applications

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iTunes is Desktop 2.0

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“I’m a coding ninja, and I can do all that in the

browser!!!”

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Go for it!

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But why?

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It is about choice...

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“Best Tech Product of all Time”

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PC World - April, 2007

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Netscape

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The Browser is the Ultimate Desktop App

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Web Browsers are Great!

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• Flexible

• Easy to Share

• Great for Content

• Lots of Choice

• Easy to get started

Lots of Choice

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Web Browsers Suck!

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• Unintuitive

• Flaky

• Bad for Apps

• Little Innovation

• Difficult to Scale

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Desktop Apps are Great!

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• Rich Functionality

• Personal

• User is in Control

• Powerful

• Not Tethered

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Desktop Apps Suck!

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• Ugly

• Boring

• Complicated

• Siloed

• Hard to Build

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Not anymore...

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We no longer have to compromise user

experience

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“But building desktop apps is hard, Mr. Lewis!”

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Technology Vendors to the Rescue!

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Desktop 2.0 Platforms

• WPF - Microsoft

• Apollo - Adobe

• Mozilla - Open Source (Mozilla, Google, more)

• Java - Open Source (Sun, IBM, more)

• Core Animation - OSX Leopard

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MY OPINIONAnimation Multi OS Web Tech Mature

WPF + - - -

Apollo + + + -

Mozilla - + + +

Java - + - +

OSX + - - +

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OK, I’ve got a desktop platform... now what?

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Data

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Oh yeah, the Interweb

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But I don’t want to run servers!

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You don’t have to

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Web Services

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Web Services Galore• Yahoo! - Mail, Search, Ads

• Flickr - Pictures

• Upcoming - Events

• eBay - Marketplace, Contextual Relevance

• Amazon - Storage, Product Info

• Google - Ads, Maps, Search

• Twitter - ???

• More: www.programableweb.com40

Take Away the Mashup Middleman

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To Bring a Web App to the Desktop, Build or

Consume Web Services

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Case Study

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or, Gratuitous Vendor Pitch

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Project San Dimas

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Why? Users Want It.

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How? Web Services!

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Number of server-side changes to date:

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0

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www.projectsandimas.com

alanlewis.typepad.com

eBay DevCon : Boston : June

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