The Brash Boys at 37signals Will Tell You: Keep it Simple, St...

ut, faced with a seemingly endless buffet of appetizer-size software, industry insiders have begun to question the basic philosophy that Web-based mini-applications are inherently better than their bulkier but more powerful competitors. "Running your application on Rails places a huge limit on what you can do," says Charles Forman, founder of iminlikewithyou.com, who has abandoned the framework for Merb, a rival programming tool. That promises more scalability. A recent survey by the NPD Group found that fewer than 1 percent of desktop PC users had replaced a desktop application — such as Microsoft Office — with a streamlined online alternative like Google Docs, even though the latter is free. Design expert Don Norman, a consultant for Microsoft, says that one reason for the disparity is that customers actually like and use the extra features. "Complexity is a necessary byproduct of the modern age," he says. "When you actually sit down and analyze what you need to get the job done, it's not simplicity."

Highlighted by brianddrpm