Webtop - The Future of Computing

by Ken Yarmosh | August 15, 2006 | Posted in: Strategy and Marketing

A number of people have thrown around the word “webtop” - but in doing so, I think they miss what the future of the web might have in store for us. Web 2.0 purists believe a Web 2.0 world where all functionality, all true computing occurs within the browser or some form of it. But the webtop should not simply imply a WebOS or applications like Writely, Zoho, or Zimbra. Those aren’t really webtop applications - they are just web applications.

There are a number of webtop applications right now - or at least ones that give us a taste of what the webtop may look like. The webtop truly will be a combination of the web plus desktop. That means some of the computing power will come from the desktop yet the data (and a lot of functionality) will be accessed remotely. It’s a pretty powerful structure.

In the coming week(s), I’ll take a look at a number of webtop-like applications, as well as some of the things that are powering them.

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  1. TECHNOSIGHT » Bubbles - Refreshing the Web and Powering the Webtop
    August 22, 2006

    [...] Bubbles represent a paradigm for what could be possible in the future - a true webtop environment. tagged underbubbles, webtop, flickr [...]

  2. TECHNOSIGHT » SlimTimer - Webtop Time-tracking
    August 30, 2006

    [...] I’ve reviewed a number of time-trackers in the past but none of them took advantage of the webtop like SlimTimer does. [...]

  3. eConectados » Archivo del blog » Webtops, mezcla de escritorio y web
    September 5, 2006

    [...] Según la Wikipedia webtop es un escritorio virtual en la web; pero como la Wikipedia la escribimos entre todos, no estoy de acuerdo, al igual que Ken. Es algo más que eso. No es una aplicación metida dentro del navegador como lo son las aplicaciones de Google o de Zoho. No, creo que no. Por supuesto, es un término que tenemos que definir entre todos, pero aquí voy a aportar mi granito de arena con mi opinión. [...]

  4. Webtop, RIA, and "Webified"
    February 19, 2007

    [...] There were some interesting discussions late last week regarding Rich Internet Applications (RIA), a new term called “webified”, and the webtop. If you recall, I’ve been doing a series on the webtop and how I disagree with it being called a WebOS (thus far, I’ve pointed to Bubbles and SimTimer as examples of what I see as webtop applications). [...]

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