Is Web 2.0 Killing Your Application Addiction?

01 Apr

Posted by admin as Editorial

One of the greatest things about owning computers and smartphones for me is trying out and using new applications. The constant search for better and better apps to try out on the Treo or the Blackberry is as much fun as using the ones I really like.

I have so many apps on my Macs that I forget and download them again. Then there are those that I think I could not live without. I have a great respect for the development community. The time they put into great functioning applications for different platforms is not unlike the time I put into learning how to play several instruments, and then striving to make happy with the knowledge.

But there is something that is happening that I noticed with my Treo 755p last year. I began to use my installed apps less and less. With Google apps like Google Docs and Gmail, I could get a lot done without taking up space on my Treo.

Then there's "Netvibes" and "Phone Favs" that give me tons of RSS feeds, notes, task, the dreaded weather and all, all from the net. Since starting my trip down Blackberry lane, I've installed a few apps that I really like, and have a reviewed a few with more to come. But I find that I am still using a lot of the "online" apps that I have set up with more and more frequency. Even down to Voicemail with SimulScribe. Which at its heart, is an online app.

The internet is increasingly becoming a place where one can get a lot done, and since a lot of these services are free, why not take advantage of them. But every so often I get that junkie urge. Jonesing you might say. I need to get out and find a new app to try out and see if it will truly benefit my cellular usage. But ultimately I end up at Netvibe or Google. As I stated in another post, I don't even use "MSWord" anymore.

It makes me wonder if a once increadibly stupid statement by Bill Gates, won't turn out to be profoundly true. We'll never need more than 64 MB of memory.