Signed Java Applets = True Web Apps (Score 5, Insightful)

I program in Java because both for it's platform independence and for the fact that if you sign a Java applet and embed it in a web page you are pretty much able to do whatever a fully-fledged Java application could do, like access the full file system.

I know of no other platform that allows you to write true "web apps" that can rival the stand-alone ones.