Re: choices
"Interactivity was NOT an intended design of the Web, though. That's something best left for proper protocols like X over SSH or VNC. So I refuse to consider it not an option. It's ALWAYS an option. In fact, taking the Web passive again should be the ONLY option to save the Internet as we know it."
X and VNC are both horrifically insecure. I would rather maintain a hundred Javascript libraries than let someone connect directly to my server and run a native app with VNC.
My experience with native apps is they're often buggier than web apps anyway, and harder to keep up to date. The number of people who have been owned by MS Word viruses suggests that it's less secure than Google Docs, not more, in spite of Google Docs' use of Javascript.
For that matter, in my experience GMail is far more usable and stable than Thunderbird, and Thunderbird was in turn far more usable than passive webmail apps.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
