When to use desktop apps vs web apps? [closed]

Question

What is the main difference between desktop applications and web applications? How to choose them?

Zolly

Possible duplicate of Advantages of web applications over desktop applications – Hovis

Answer 1

Generally speaking I find the biggest advantage for a native app is that it can be much faster and is good at interfacing with hardware. The biggest drawback is that they usually need to be custom built for specific operating systems. For example a native app may need both a windows and mac version built which drastically increases development time.

This is where the advantages of the web app come into play. Because the app is on the web it is usually is compatible across many platforms making it the cheapest and fastest development option. You will however sacrifice speed and may have difficulty with hardware compatibility.

In addition, it depends on who you are developing software for. For example, if you are deploying a service or some sort of distributed system, web apps are typically the way to go. But, if you are creating a very niche tool for individuals to use, such as Photoshop, or Microsoft Word, it may be better to develop platform specific versions and squeeze the most out of a system and its resources.

Hovis

The link for "another question" is not working. – Provincial

@Provincial must have been removed. I deleted it – Hovis