Eh, there's something to be said about web applications and the Uncanny Valley, but this isn't it.
Atwood, I think, is saying that web applications shouldn't be like desktop applications because it violates the user's expectation of how a webapp should be.
Applying the Uncanny Valley to this says that it's not bad for web apps to behave like desktop apps -- it's bad for webapps to signal that they have behave like desktop apps, and then fail to live up to that expectation.
This problem affects other products, too. For example, imagine a really awesome semantic search engine called CantorSet. You can throw all sorts of questions at it and it appears to come up with the answer. "What did Bush say at the last G8 meeting?" Wow! Amazing!
But then you ask questions like, "Why did my wife leave me?" No answer! Wow, this thing sucks.
It's less about what the webapp does or doesn't do, and more about the expectations it sets and whether or not it lives up to them.
Atwood, I think, is saying that web applications shouldn't be like desktop applications because it violates the user's expectation of how a webapp should be.
Applying the Uncanny Valley to this says that it's not bad for web apps to behave like desktop apps -- it's bad for webapps to signal that they have behave like desktop apps, and then fail to live up to that expectation.
This problem affects other products, too. For example, imagine a really awesome semantic search engine called CantorSet. You can throw all sorts of questions at it and it appears to come up with the answer. "What did Bush say at the last G8 meeting?" Wow! Amazing!
But then you ask questions like, "Why did my wife leave me?" No answer! Wow, this thing sucks.
It's less about what the webapp does or doesn't do, and more about the expectations it sets and whether or not it lives up to them.