Alex Barnett blog

Does Web 2.0 have to mean OWO (Only Works Online)

Ryan Stewart and Richard MacManus are discussing the merits of a browser-only services and development strategy verses an online+offline approach.

They are both kind of right in my view, but it all depends on the experience and the nature of the service you want to deliver. Never mind the 'richness' side of things for the moment (though this is clearly another key point in this debate) - the #1 reason we'll see the hybrid approach do well over the next decade is that this opens the doors for the Occasionally Connected Computing (OCC) scenarios.

Email is the classic example. Should I just not be able to draft, send, read, sort and organize my mail (or calendar, etc) when I'm offline? Or write up a blog post because I'm not within a hotspot's range? Or read my RSS feeds on the plane? What about editing my photos on the train? Etcetara, etcetera.

So, should I just not do stuff because I happen to be offline? Or should my data, my services and my apps be always on, like really 'always on'?

Does Web 2.0 have to mean OWO (Only Works Online)?

Here are some other thoughts on on this topic:

• R.I.P. Browsers
  "We are really constrained by browsers. Think about it. People saw AJAX and went, "oooooo, ahhhhhh!" but we've been able to drag and drop on our desktops forever."
• Two words that will sink Google "occasionally connected
  "I don't agree with conclusion of the title of this comment, but I do agree about the importance of its sentiment."
• Refreshing Data in Occasionally Connected Computing Applications: The Three-Level Approach
  "Best—Integrated, flexible, event-driven applications that are designed to be fully responsive to the state of connectivity and which exploit it to create compelling mobility applications."
• Occasionally Connected Computing: The Developer's New Challenge (OCC)
  "Many applications currently expect the user to be online at all times. If the user goes off-line while the application is active, processing stops. Users won't tolerate this kind of enforced hiatus in their productivity."
• Time for Web 2.0 to get real
  "Architecturally speaking, the on-demand model has one fatal flaw - when the demand is there the 'on' bit needs to be there too. If it is not, then we have a problem. OCC."