Massless

Here's an excellent paper that outlines some of the design and usability issues developers should consider when building a client for the internet.

Richard Gaskin on browsers versus network applications.
While the Web browser may be ideally suited for viewing data, its design is not optimized for creating or manipulating data. With the advent of Web applications, many interface designers have been limiting their work to those systems which can be delivered in a Browser window. Using a wider range of tools, technologies, and protocols, a designer may find some tasks better served through Net-aware desktop applications.