See my other reply in this thread.

Connectivity is not a problem with caching, local storage, and offline logic. Besides, we're heading towards a world where internet connectivity is pretty much ubiquitous. Even if you're on a plane, riding a train through a tunnel, hiking in the middle on nowhere or on the high seas.

See my other reply.

Webpages had to evolve to small form factor and become "richer", which is what's happening now with HTML5 and better CSS definitions. Unfortunately, that didn't happen fast enough, so obviously the native approach gained traction. It's the low-hanging-fruit coupled with greed. Now, I'm not saying native apps were a mistake. I'm saying it's not something to strive for in the future.

Apps are not the future. They are the past.

Webapps or just web pages, as we used to call them, are the future of software. You just enter an address or click a link and you get to the most up to date "app". No installation, no updates, no permissions, no specific OS or hardware necessary. It works everywhere by everyone and all the time with no hassles.

The reason apps made a comeback is because you can charge for apps. An app is a defined thing and an installation is a chargeable privilege. So thank Apple and all the me-too followers for burdening us with software deployment and management just as we were about to escape those unnecessary activities.

Apps as platform is not driven by mobile OSes, browsers or other modern technology. It is driven by capitalism.

Now, this is proper Slashdot material. More of this, please!

Time to move to an independent email account. Not a good idea to entrust your email in the hands of your employer.

Marketers being marketers. :)

Larry is just a random sleazeball from Marketing. I didn't think of Ellison.

Developers: We've got some really good ideas for increasing performance of complex queries by...
Marketing: How much in the best conceivable case?
Developers: Oh, I dunno, maybe 70x.
Marketing: 70x? Is that good?
Developers: Yeah, I suppose, but the cool stuff is...
Marketing: Wow! 70x! That's a really big number!
Developers: Actually, please don't quote me on that. They'll make fun of me on Slashdot if you do. Promise me.
Marketing: We promise.
Developers: Thanks. Now, let me show you where the good stuff is...
Marketing (on phone): Larry? It's me. How big can you print me up a poster that says "70x"?