Jonathan Schwartz makes an [interesting observation](http://blogs.sun.com/roller/page/jonathan/20051001):
> Or finally, as I did last week at a keynote, ask the audience which they’d rather give up – their browser, or all the rest of their desktop apps. (Unanimously, they’d all give up the latter without a blink.)
And [Scoble wonders](http://radio.weblogs.com/0001011/2005/10/03.html#a11353) if we all live in the same world.
Me? I won’t give up my e-mail client, not with the 60GB storage capacity, ability to work online and offline, and UI that’s more responsive than any AJAX app out there. Nor would I give up my [text editor](http://writeboard.com/), or any of my [development tools](http://www.keebler.net/blog/2005/10/03/dhtml-sql-designer/). I still manage my digital library with Picasa. Always on is still a future away.
But if it came down to choosing between the Web and all my desktop apps, I’d choose the Web. It’s a no brainer. My computer has so many apps on it, all the data it holds is the data I put there, and with one keyboard and one screen it’s a bit difficult to collaborate. Compared to the Web, it’s infinitely limited.
So yes, I’m going to keep running Windows apps (insert evil snicker here) because I can choose to mix the best of the Web and my choice of client apps. But I don’t care that much about the client anymore. To me Vista is a non-event, a bunch of security patches, a bunch of DRM restrictions and upgrade pains, a zero sum game. Maybe I’ll get it when I buy a new machine, maybe I’ll switch to Linux. Someday I may end up running Office 12, but I’m not budgeting for an upgrade.
Every day I check out all [the new cool stuff](http://techcrunch.com/). I constantly add services that [change](http://pandora.com/) [the way](http://www.strongspace.com/) [I do](http://www.basecamphq.com) [things](http://wordpress.org/). And that’s just a partial list.
When my machine died a while ago I switched to an older PC and discovered what my baseline requirements really are: it needs to run Firefox and it needs do WiFi. That may not be enough to run Vista or Office 12, but it’s enough to get stuff done.
The rules of the game have changed.