I’m looking at two new apps that I just heard about last night, both of which are giving the Web a serious push.
The first, is this [JavaScript-based SQL designer](http://ondras.praha12.net/sql/demo/). It’s a proof of concept that Web apps are catching up on client apps, at least in terms of UI capabilities. You just need to want to do it on the client side. It may not be cheaper, it may not give you any more productivity, but it can be done. There are a lot of apps I discounted a year ago, because the UI was just not there, but I’m starting to see all these problems solved piece by piece.
The second, is this [hosting service provider](http://www.ning.com/) that incorporates federated identity management, cross-service linking and a toolkit that lowers the barrier to entry. I can think of a lot of one-off apps that could never get off the ground because hosting & setup is a barrier to entry for the creator, discovery and registration a barrier to entry for users. Ning erases two of these barriers.
Neither app will rule the Web, but both are marking the point where I start believing in the Web as the platform. And the client as a platform.