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There was a time when Google released its Desktop Search application (since renamed Google Desktop), and the Google Talk client more or less together. Back then, I wondered why Google was going down the path of Windows desktop applications - wasn’t the Web the Future, according to them? I did think that their strategy implementation was faltering just a bit.

In any case, this month we’ve seen an example of what the next generation of web applications is going to look like. Google Talk is no longer an “application”, but a Flash “gadget” that can live anywhere on the web - be it on your personalized Google homepage, or your blog, or your Firefox sidebar. Well, a web-based chat application is rather stale - computer science undergrads routinely write applications like these as part of their network programming course. But the Talk Gadget’s different - in two significant ways:

One, it’s got about all the functionality of a desktop application. Because it’s Flash-based (as opposed to HTML/AJAX), it’s able to incorporate features like tabbed chats, Flickr/Picasa slideshows, or embedded YouTube videos.

Two, it can be “deployed” anywhere on the web, as I mentioned earlier. This has far-reaching consequences for web application developers; the Talk Gadget represents the beginning of the era of full-featured application components, an era where you no longer have to download/launch/upgrade applications, or even live with browser-based implementations. We’ve set foot into the realm of “instant launch”. Take a look at the Google Talk page if you don’t get what I just said. The big blue button no longer says “Download Google Talk” - just “Launch Google Talk”.

I guess we can see where we’re going - “launch Word/Excel/PowerPoint” anytime, anywhere, for starters. Componentization of full-featured applications like this could lead to completely new ways of looking at existing web applications. Take Blogger. Today, the publisher and the reader have very different interfaces to the blog - the publisher uses the Blogger interface to compose, manage and publish posts, and the user views the *.blogspot.com pages. With Word processor integration, we could have a collapsible compose window right at the top, viewable only by the publisher. He/she could compose/manage posts right from the existing *.blogspot.com page. And what is a comments system but a multi-way chat? Enter the embedded Google Talk Gadget. Adding images is no longer cumbersome - simply drag and drop from your desktop (or browser window) into the compose area, and it’s automatically uploaded or linked. Let your imagination loose for email and scheduling applications too. Now embed AdSense into these components, and you can see where the money’s coming from.

Finally, the most promising platform to deliver these applications seems to be Flash. Suddenly, Adobe has been given a new lease of life. Will Google risk building its future application services on a platform owned by another company? And where does Adobe go from here? (Think Apollo.) That’s fodder for another post!