Here's a quick question : which one of these environments makes you more productive ?
This ..
Or this ..
In my opinion, web portals in their current form might not be around for long. They would be replaced by what I would like to call "desktop portals" or "widget portals". Here is why :
Superior user experience : There is no reason why the portal experience needs to be limited to the
confines of a web browser. A more natural place to do personalization and/or aggregation is the user's
desktop.
Enhanced productivity : Desktop applications are much more productive than browser based apps.
Yahoo has offered a notepad feature for a long. But the only time I actually stopped using Windows Notepad
for making a quick note, is when I discovered the Yahoo notepad widget.
Availability of technology:
Technology could have been a barrier previously. It isn't any longer. It is becoming increasingly common
to see web applications behaving like desktop apps (new Yahoo mail anyone?) and vice versa. In a way, desktop apps
and web apps are all getting mashed up.
It has already started happening:
http://desktop.google.com
http://widgets.yahoo.com
http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/dashboard
http://gallery.live.com/default.aspx?l=1
What do you think ?
