Who Needs the "Rich" Client?

Berlind is right on the money again.

"Tipping point: The Web is easier to use than your hard drive"

This piece is about the relative complexity of navigating the desktop (i.e. Microsoft Windows) withall its confusing buttons and alternative ways of doing the same thing...versus the ease of accessing 8 billion Web pages basically in a uniform way.

I've been saying for a while now that Microsoft's business model -- reflected in their doubling-down on the FAT CLIENT strategy with Intel at their side -- is grossly irrelevant, given the direction applications are migrating. How long do you think it will take for this to become apparent to general IT decision-makers?