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Asked: 2026-05-11T12:24:26+00:00

I am trying to understand the technical limits to the usability of web-based productivity

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I am trying to understand the technical limits to the usability of web-based productivity applications that use only open, cross-platform technologies such as Javascript, HTML, and CSS on the client. [1]

Let’s assume for a moment that in the next few years the capabilities of web browsers continue to improve (e.g. with HTML 5 and faster JS engines), and significant progress is made in increasing bandwidth and reducing latency. What technological barriers (e.g. performance, graphics, modes of user interaction) will remain that limit the usability of web productivity apps when compared to conventional client-side applications? (Apart from offline access and issues that have significant non-technological aspects, such as privacy concerns.)

[1] By ‘productivity applications’, I mean things like office suites, email, calendars, and diagramming programs.

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  1. and significant progress is made in increasing bandwidth and reducing latency.

    This IS the limitation, and latency is not something that is going to improve significantly in the future (there are real physical limits here). The roundtrip is the bottleneck.

    As for improvements, I see as javascript getting faster there being less AJAX and more client-side work. Right now, alot of AJAX is used to get display HTML form the server for rendering in the browser. In the future, AJAX will be used strictly for data, with javascript handing all the display.

    SO the barrier I see is javascript performance.

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