I really enjoyed this: but the reasons laid out here seem to be that the benefits of making a desktop app are marketing and less chance of being forgotten. What about the utility of the app? The argument I hear the most is that they provide a snappier, slicker experience.

By the way, when I use my mac with a lot of apps open, using alt-tab is not much different to searching through a bunch of tabs — and of course in chrome you can see the logo visible on every single tab all the time (unless you are in full screen mode) so there’s marketing there too.

Re Google- I have to admit I like Google’s web-only thin-client vision of the future, and I find working entirely in chrome to be a peaceful way to work- I am conflicted though, as the quality of mac desktop apps has never been higher.