If anything, Adobe’s latest move in the desktop to web app trend has us thinking of what desktop applications aren’t online. And likewise it has us asking ourselves, which desktop applications should be online applications? The most versatile? The most expensive? Perhaps one that serves all your entertainment fixes and work needs?
While support for certain features and the speed of sending and receiving files pose a problem in shifting completely from desktop to online applications, there are desktop applications everybody is itching to have online--without the trappings of a desktop product.
So to get ahead of the digital trends of the times, we’ve compiled a list of 11 desktop applications that should be online applications.
1. Adobe Acrobat Professional 8.1-- This is one desktop application that does everything you'll ever need to do when it comes to the PDF. In addition to being a versatile PDF creation application, its latest document sharing and collaboration features make it an ideal choice for accessing and working with PDFs online.
2. iWork '08--While there are web based creation applications already online, you sometimes need the productivity suite that you're used to using—unlimited in function. iWork ’08’s interface, export features, layout templates, access to media, and graphic tools make this suite a good online addition not only for Mac users, but online users as well.
3. Able2Extract Professional 5.0-- With the growing amount of PDF content on the web, getting full desktop converters online, such as Able2Extract Pro 5.0, is now a must. Its advanced conversion features to document and image formats along with its simple GUI would make this desktop app a powerful easy-to-use online converter.
4. iTunes 7.5—A media application that organizes and plays all your MP3s, movies and files. Although the amount of data is always a negative when it comes to online accessing, you sometimes need personal file collections at your finger tips. Shifted to the web, this application would work well as a personal media storage space that would be as accessible as your email.
5. Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2-- Digital cameras and photo publishing have made this versatile desktop application another online must have. Its support for over 50 formats, tabbed interfaces, auto compression, integrated email function, and its Express Lab mode, give it huge potential for online usage for digital photo sharing and simple usage without the huge price.
6. Flash Player -- Applications built on the Flash platform are nearly everywhere online. Less than 1 MB in size, its vector-based display makes it ideal for scaling and delivering media experiences with a small bandwidth.
7. Privacy Guardian 4.1-- Supporting the widely used Internet Explorer, Netscape, Opera and Mozilla Firefox browsers, Privacy Guardian 4.1 gives you privacy on a shared computer by permanently deleting your Internet activity--the data cookies, browser history and cache. It’s functions and small size make it perfect for one time online purposes.
8. VLC Media Player 0.8.6d—While multimedia demanding desktop apps are a long way from acquiring the necessary bandwidth to play quality media, turning those entertainment habits into online user experiences is inevitable. This video media player supports a wide range of various audio and video formats, and its support for DivX, MP2, MP3, MP4, and DVD formats would make it a great working web app for moving all your movie entertainment online.
9. Adobe Dreamweaver CS3--A powerhouse web design desktop application that allows you to work with popular HTML, XHTML, CSS, JavaScript, Ajax, and PHP web technologies in either a visual layout interface or streamline coding environment. And in addition to workspaces and advanced features, Dreamweaver’s ability to integrate with other Adobe design software make it worthy for online usage.
10. IrfanView 4.10--This graphic viewer would work well as an online Swiss army knife for all the simple manipulations you might have to perform on different file formats. Supporting a wide range of media to image formats, IrfanView 4.10 lets you view, edit, play, and convert a number of formats you can find online—BMP, JPG, GIF,TIFF, PSD, EPS, PNG, AVI, MOV, PSP, SWF. It even offers a number of plug ins for other format functionalities.
11. Audacity 1.2.6—With this sound editor and recorder that supports WAV, AIFF and MP3, you can create, edit, mix tracks, add effects and bass boost to MP3, WAV and AIFF audio files, select different types of track displays, and export into different audio formats. Audacity’s multiple editing features would make it a flexible online application for audio editing.
With all your hankerings for desktop application features in digital design, editing, document conversion and publishing, what does your list look like?
