2008: The Year In Advance…

Noel Rappin, Friday, December 28, 2007 @ 12:16 pm

Oh, we're doing predictions. Sure:

1. The blurring between desktop and web applications will continue. Especially watch for desktop applications specifically designed to enhance one specific web site (like the Mac applications Twitterrific and Mailplane). There are at least two other efforts to allow you to easily bundle an arbitrary web site into something that acts like a desktop app. I agree that Google Gears-like functionality has a strong place here.

2. On a related note, I'm kind of taken with the new Remember the Milk Firefox plugin, which adds GMail integration. It's a plugin that assumes a specfic browser and ties together two web apps. Using the browser as the clearinghouse for tying together disparate web data feels like something I expect to see more of.

3. GWT will make some headway in porting existing Java apps to the web, but much of this will be on internal networks, so it will kind of slide under the radar. I don't see it picking up vast numbers of new developers who aren't already committed to a Java/Swing structure.

4. One of the zillion or two desktop app suites will go under, prompting some panic for people who have stored documents there.

5. For the Rails community, I expect the big issue for 2008 will be dealing with success and growth (RailsConf 2008 has more proposals for speakers than RailsConf 2006 had participants...). The tension is along the axis of developer efficiency vs. enterprise-y performance. Look for more attention to fall on smaller, more specialized Ruby frameworks like Merb.

6. On a more technical level, I expect (or maybe more accurately, hope) that there will be some attention paid to improving the Rails view layer. Possibly a consensus on some kind of Presenter or Decorator pattern.

7. My book, Professional Ruby on Rails, will be released. You will buy a copy. (Hey, I can hope...)

Related posts:

1. 2008: A Year That Was
2. Comet 2008: The State of Play in Reverse Ajax
3. RailsConf 2008 and Free Book Giveaway
4. RailsConf 2008: A Belated Look Back
5. Thanksgiving 2008: What We’re Thankful For (In Rails)

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1. 

   Interesting post, thanks for shared.

   Comment by Martha, Friday, May 9, 2008 @ 2:31 pm

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