Is Software dying? Are web-based tools the new revolution?
Did you realize that we are using more and more web-based tools for all our daily needs of software dose? We are using messenger service for chatting, google's office tools which includes word and excel software, Apple's Itunes, and more!. Interestingly today's web browsers act like a complete Operating system. It provides all the facilities like graphics, sound capabilities, web based software, which in today's world which commands desktop software.

So if you ask yourself, are you ready to be totally online? Well the answer would not be a total yes. People have not taken to the online experience of doing work completely. Though the rate is increasing and a lot of people are working on online based tools, it is still far away than it the realty seems. It could still be a couple of years before the desktop would drown to its origin. To back this theory, according to NPD group, it seems the sales of Office 2007 was double than that of Office 2003. The success of Office 2007 can stand as a testimony to todays Microsoft's dominance in the desktop software space.

The big guys have taken notice to the users who prefer working online. Microsoft has never encouraged developing online versions of their office tools. Instead they have gone ahead and embraced the online experience via its "Live" service. The Live feature is incorporated in its Office tools to give benefits of working in the online space. Microsoft has also launched its Silverlight technology (vector based tool similar to adobe flash). Adobe has gone ahead and build online version of its software like "Premier". Though very limited, it still provides enough features for people to use it.

Even the mobile space is not left far behind. Though not comparable to the power of web browser tools, the mobile software still allows the users to blog, download videos and audio, edit office documents, skype, etc. When you compare the speed of a mobile and a desktop work station, both cannot be compared as the difference is pretty huge (comparing CPU speed and RAM capacity). The convergence of mobile and desktop will happen and it is only a matter of time when the average user will have just a single device for all the needs.

So is software dead? Well the desktop still has a couple of years to ring in its death knell, but it will just transform itself into a new avatar to take on the users expectations.