I didn’t know anyone actually used streets and tips. I un-installed it as soon as I got my laptop. I didn’t know anything about it and I just assumed it was some bulky microsoft crap ware.
and now enter the world of desktop web mix via adobe air and google gears… and were ushering the new web to desktop world.
Are we talking about desktop vs web application or two competing development firms? It is not that desktop is dead, it is that google makes a really good app.
One thing is for sure, the limitations of the web have forced developers to rethink how they do their job. Maybe that is why there is innovation in web apps. The desktop paradigm has not changed in ages.
I know you are talking about the Desktop version. However, Google has created Google Maps Mobile (www.google.com/gmm) which does integrate with a GPS device. They’ve created several different versions for a lot of phones and pdas out there. All you need is a data plan.
Welcome to 2007! We’re glad to have you here! 
Also try:
Searching for a specific string of text within all you Yahoo Mail emails vs. the same in your locally installed copy of Outlook.
Install Google desktop search and search for any given file buried deep in your OS vs. Windows Search ( or worse, ask "Clippy the paperclip to do it )
You’ve provided a very good example for something that “web visionaries” have been predicting for quite some time.
The idea is older, but here is one of the earliest articles that I am aware of where the author predicted, and explained in explicit detail, why web-based applications would eventually supplant desktop applications:
http://www.paulgraham.com/road.html
It makes a great deal of sense, and is largely validated by your recent experience. I have little doubt that this trend will continue.
You left out comparing the most important detail of mapping software: accuracy of directions.
While Google Maps may have more up to date maps, Streets and Trips is much more likely to provide accurate directions (based on my anecdotal experience of getting lost more than once when making the mistake of using Google Maps).
Could not agree more. Spent the last 4-5 years developing web applications. My latest consulting job has thrown me back into the world of windows applications. During a recent design meeting for a new form, I was horrified as to the thoughts that were being agreed on. When I presented my idea, I was met with “That would take years to implement”, though with a working prototype done in about 30 minutes… my idea was finally accepted. To me it is like the application people have sealed themselves inside a small box of dropdowns, radio buttons and toolbars with nothing to guide the user but an ill-defined tab index.
your google maps screen shot shows your gmail address.
if you care, you may want to edit it out.
The emphasis has been on web apps, thus the growing divide.
I wonder if this will change when the internet is no longer free, or if you have to type in your driver’s license or passport number before using it (like in Europe at internet cafes)?
Actaully advertising killed the desktop application. I have always found desktop mapping to be either outdated or expensive and it makes sense as to why. If you aren’t paying more for updates the mapping company has zero incentive to update them. If you are, it gets expensive.
Online mapping on the other hand benefits from advertising and the constant need to drive users to the site. A great way to do that is to have the most updated information. Also, using a MS app for comparision is a poor choice since their competing product is now on the web in the form of Live Maps.
I’m not sure about google desktop apps though. I find their desktop search to be on the most invasive/worst UI desktop apps I’ve ever used. Showing the results in a browser window in a way you can’t interact with them is terrible. Almost an alternative search application is better.
You were looking for it mr. Atwood.
http://voidsoft.ro/blog/index.php?title=who_killed_the_desktop_application_nobodmore=1c=1tb=1pb=1
unfortunately, I cannot update by GPS with google map data (can I?)
so all the streets in my town are still missing…
but then again, that’s really a GPS app fed by a desktop database yes?
Nothing like comparing a 5-year old desktop program with the latest version of a web app over cable/dsl. Even I, who despise Microsoft (for good reasons), find your comparison unfair. Akin to “shooting fish in a barrel”.
Web-based mapping applications are good for what they provide… directions, POI’s, etc… I don’t use Streets and Trips, but I have used MapInfo and ESRI products for years and those products do oh so much more that Google Maps or MapQuest…
But as a consumer, having to house several terabytes of data to get satellite imagery, aerial photography, detailed streets, and business information (plus all the topographical features) is just not practical (at this point). Plus having the knowledge of the SDE or some other spatial engine for querying the data is a whole other issue…
The reminds me of the days when it was faster to load an application off of a Novell server than from the ancient 20mb hard drives (the speed difference being the FAT file system etc).
One great benefit to Google Maps - I can create my own maps and share them with anyone who has Internet access. With a desktop app, everyone I want to share with has to have the same application (and many times the same ~version~ of the desktop application).
As an example, our church supports a number of missionaries. I wanted to get a better idea of where all of those missionaries and mission organizations are located, so I plotted them on a Google map. Then I shared that map with a number of folks in my church just by sending them a link in an email. They click the link, and voila! The map appears in their browser, and we are all looking at the same information.
Now I can update the map anytime I need to, and they can all look at the updates any time they want to - no file sharing, no long set of instructions for how to load a file, etc. etc. These are benefits that would be very difficult to reproduce in a desktop-only application.
It’s a data-heavy app. Pick something that optimizes for video and CPU cycles and desktop still rules, and probably always will:
People are focusing on Google Maps and missing the point of web apps in general. I think one of the reasons that more UI innovation is happening with web apps is that web apps are where it’s the easiest to innovate.
Let’s assume the “state of the art” in desktop app design is Apple/XCode, where layout, etc. is done with the designer on nib files. Even with that, there’s a lot of wiring up of code to the components, compilation, running, retrying. With web apps it’s just spitting out text (HTML, CSS, Javascript) to a browser. You can have this done by a server app, or when designing you can have it be static files. Easy to change, easy to try new things, and a lot of the layout, drawing etc. is done for you.
“we’re guaranteed to be using the latest version with the newest features”
I think this is key, especially in terms of the user interface. Through actual people using the application in day-to-day tasks, you find those common use-cases that the interface needs to be optimized for.
The web app gives the developers a stream of feedback for what users actually do, and allows them to streamline the ui at will without downloads.
It would seem the web app has the advantage when relatively little data needs to sit on the client machine, and rapid evolution of the interface is very important. So maps, yes. Photoshop with large files, probably not.